Sydney – Global law firm K&L Gates has advised Simmtech Holdings Co Ltd, a listed South Korean printed circuit board (PCB) company, in establishing its first large scale factory in Southeast Asia to help to address the world’s global chip shortage.

The value of the project is in excess of US$120 million.

The K&L Gates team, led by Sydney-based finance partner Richard Hayes, Melbourne-based projects partner Zac Kerr and Singapore-based corporate and projects partner Marius Toime, acted on all stages of the greenfield project located in Penang, Malaysia. This included structuring advice, preparing and negotiating the land acquisition documents, construction documents and negotiating and finalising the financing.

Simmtech is one of the world’s largest players in printed circuit boards and packaging substrate for the semiconductor industry. Once fully operational, the production facility in Penang is expected to employ more than 1,000 highly skilled workers and contribute more than 20% to Simmtech’s current combined global capacity.

Singapore-based client relationship partner Henry Kim commented: “We are delighted to have assisted Simmtech with this groundbreaking project, which adds significant capacity and geographical diversity to its impressive manufacturing capabilities.” 

The K&L Gates team worked seamlessly across its Melbourne, Singapore (doing business as K&L Gates Straits Law LLC) and Sydney offices to deliver the project for Simmtech over a 12-month period. 

Jeffery Chun, Simmtech’s Managing Director for Southeast Asia, noted: “We were impressed by the firm’s ability to draw upon its global capabilities in various disciplines to successfully structure, negotiate and document each element of the project to achieve an outstanding outcome for all stakeholders.”