Warut Horsimasathaporn | People

Biography

Warut is a partner at Baker McKenzie’s Bangkok office. Since joining the firm in 2011, he has been actively involved in various areas within the Corporate & Commercial Practice Group, with a primary focus on mergers and acquisitions in regulated sectors including insurance and beyond. He regularly advises multinational companies on M&A transactions, corporate restructuring, corporate governance, investment strategies, business integration, foreign shareholding structures, and distribution models. Warut has represented both local and international clients in inbound and outbound investments, as well as in complex mergers and acquisitions.

Practice Focus

Warut is experienced in proposing business organization and transaction structures, conducting legal due diligence for mergers and acquisitions, drafting contracts, and implementing complex transactions for both local and international clients. His expertise spans regulated industries, corporate restructuring, joint ventures, commercial contracts, shareholder disputes, foreign investment, governance, registration, and compliance. His industry focus also includes on both life and non-life insurance.

Representative Legal Matters

Represented a multinational insurance group in acquisition of a Thai non-life insurance subsidiary of another multinational insurance group, and later advised on the business integration between the acquired target with the acquiror's existing non-life insurance subsidiary in Thailand.
Advised a publicly listed Thai energy company on the complex internal restructuring of more than a dozen subsidiaries operating gas-fired cogeneration power plants and smart energy businesses across the Southeast Asian region.
Assisted a major German multinational insurance group, along with its Thai subsidiary, in the bidding process for acquiring a majority equity interest in a non-life insurer listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. The target company was experiencing financial distress due to claim payouts under COVID-19 lump-sum policies.
Advised in a joint venture between a leading investment firm and a multinational conglomerate in the full acquisition 3 gas-fired cogeneration power plants with aggregate installation capacity of 360MW. The team advised on every key aspect of the transaction, including joint venture formation, M&A, acquisition financing, and ongoing disputes between project companies and their contractors.
Advised a subsidiary of a German multinational insurance group in salesforce and talent acquisition following the license revocation and liquidation of another local insurer in July 2024. The team provided comprehensive support on several critical matters, including navigating the legal processes for onboarding employees from the liquidated entity, ensuring continuity of protection for existing policyholders, and facilitating business collaboration with the founding family of the liquidated insurer, leveraging their decades of industry experience to deliver valuable advisory services.
Assisted a Thai subsidiary of a German multinational insurance group in acquiring shares from major shareholders of a listed Thai non-life insurance company and executing its delisting from the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), and later advised on the business integration by way of entire business transfer from the acquired target to the acquiring entity .
Represented a Tokyo-headquartered multinational insurance holding company in the acquisition of a prominent non-life insurer in Thailand, marking one of the largest non-life insurance transactions in Southeast Asia.
Advised a life insurance company in Thailand on entering a strategic partnership with a Myanmar life insurer through a cross-border equity acquisition and the formation of a joint venture. This landmark deal represents the first investment by an ASEAN insurer in Myanmar’s previously closed-off insurance market.
Assisted leading international insurance clients in securing beyond 49% direct foreign shareholding approval from the Minister of Finance of Thailand—Thailand’s only two successful applications of its kind not driven by business collapse concerns.
Supported multinational insurance clients in obtaining special approval from the Minister of Finance of Thailand to increase foreign shareholding to 100% for 10 years due to the financial impact from the mega flood in 2011, which are among the first such approvals granted in Thailand.

Professional Associations and Memberships

The Law Society of Thailand

Admissions

Thailand

Education

Columbia University (LLM) (2017)
Thammasat University (LLB, Honors) (2011)

Languages

English
Thai