Harikumar Sukumar Pillay
Biography
Hari is a principal in the Mergers & Acquisitions Practice Group at Baker McKenzie Wong & Leow. His practice covers competition law and regulation-related advisory work in Singapore and the Southeast Asia region.
Hari was the Director of the Enforcement Division at the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS), where he supervised the CCCS's Intelligence Unit and IT Forensics Taskforce, in addition to the supervision of case teams on various investigations, mergers and notifications.
He was also responsible for managing leniency applications made to the CCCS, overseeing the secret complainant and reward schemes, planning and executing dawn raids, and recording investigative statements of persons under investigations. Hari led teams involved in defending appeals brought against the CCCS's decisions before the Competition Appeals Board.
Prior to joining the Firm, Hari completed stints in private practice and as a Justices' Law Clerk with the Singapore Legal Service.
Hari is ranked as a Global Elite Thought Leader by Who's Who Legal: Thought Leaders Global Elite - Competition - Under 45 2023 and as a Future Leader by Who's Who Legal: Competition Future Leaders - Partners" since the 2020 edition, in which clients have commended that "Harikumar Pillay at Baker McKenzie Wong & Leow is held in high esteem by peers as 'a great competition lawyer' and is singled out for his 'extensive knowledge of Singapore’s competition law'." He is ranked Band 2 for Competition/Antitrust in Singapore by Chambers Asia Pacific 2023 and has been recognised by his clients for "providing thoughtful and measured advice, helping to think about not just Singapore but the broader ASEAN context which helps multinationals think through issues beyond just Singapore." "Hari is an excellent help and a consummate professional. We highly recommend him."
Representative Legal Matters
Public Sector Clients
- Drafting the ASEAN Study on Cross-Border Enforcement Cooperation which provides recommended frameworks for ASEAN competition authorities to co-operate on cross-border competition cases.
- Acting as Competition policy consultant to the Malaysia Competition Commission on its proposed legislative amendments to the Malaysia Competition Act and Competition Commission Act.
- Acting as Competition policy consultant to the Philippines Competition Commission on its review of the Philippines Competition Act Rules of Procedures.
Private Sector Clients
- Advising EDP Renewables on the competition law aspects of its acquisition of a 91% stake in the Sunseap Group which represent an enterprise value of SGD 1.1 billion. This substantial investment in Sunseap will make EDP Renewables, which is the world's fourth largest renewable energy producer, further establish its presence in the Asia Pacific renewable energy market.
- Advising Aztiq on the competition law aspects of its USD 475 million acquisition of Alvogen Emerging Markets Holdings with co-investor Innobic. This transaction was one of the largest transactions in the healthcare industry in 2021. The Aztiq-Innobic consortium became the lead shareholder in the global oncology pharmaceutical company Lotus Pharmaceuticals, and Adalvo, a global business-to-business pharmaceutical company.
- Advising Acciona Energia on the competition law aspects of its USD 34 million investment to enter the capital of The Blue Circle and a commitment of up to USD 113.5 million to finance capex of projects that reach ready-to-build status. The Blue Circle is a Singapore-based leading developer of wind projects in the Southeast Asia region.
- Advising Ultra Clean Holdings on the Singapore competition law aspects of its USD 348 million acquisition of Ham-Let, a global leader in the development, manufacturing and distribution of ultra-high purity and industrial flow control system parts used of manufacturing semiconductor devices.
- Assisting with the competition law compliance review in relation to the set-up of SGTraDex, a digital infrastructure facilitating secure data sharing between supply chain ecosystem partners, whose founding members include the Singapore Infocomm Media Development Authority, PSA, Trafigura, DBS, Jurong Port, OCBC Bank, Ocean Network Express, Advario, Pacific International Lines, UOB and Standard Chartered Bank.
- Assisting a client with responding to the CCCS's notices in relation to its investigation into the online food delivery and virtual kitchen sectors.
- Assisting a client with responding to the CCCS's notices in relation to the Keppel Distripark price fixing cartel between warehouse operators.
Professional Associations and Memberships
- Law Society of Singapore - Member
- Complaints Committee, Singapore Medical Council - Member
Admissions
- Singapore (2008)
Education
- King's College London (PGD in Econs for Competition Law) (2010)
- Board of Legal Education Singapore (Practitioners’ Course) (2007)
- National University of Singapore (Diploma in Singapore Law) (2006)
- University of Leicester (LLB, First Class Honours) (2005)
- National University of Singapore (B. Engineering) (2002)
Languages
- English
- Tamil