Global law firm K&L Gates was awarded M&A Deal of the Year at the Asia Legal Business (ALB) Southeast Asia Law Awards 2024 for its role in advising live-streaming social entertainment platform 17LIVE Holding (17LIVE) in its combination with Singapore’s Vertex Technology Acquisition Corporation Ltd (VTAC), a technology-focused special purpose acquisition company with an aggregate value of S$1.2 billion.

This deal marks the first purchase of a private company by a SPAC listed in Singapore since 2021 when the Singapore Exchange Security Trading Ltd (SGX-ST) allowed SPACs to float shares. VTAC was Singapore’s first SPAC to be listed. It went public in early 2022.  

The K&L Gates cross-practice and cross-jurisdictional team that advised 17LIVE was led by Hong Kong-based corporate partner William Ho, with support from associates Eva Ying, Dorothy Hung, Prudence Pang, Amy Lau and others across the platform, noted in the firm’s deal release.

The nominations were judged by an independent panel of senior and expert legal industry leaders, with the awards presented in May.

Since 2004, ALB has been hosting the Southeast Asia Law Awards to honor outstanding achievements within the legal sector, celebrating the exceptional performance of both private practitioners and in-house counsel across Southeast Asia and beyond.