‘Kevin Sidharta is a nuts-and-bolts person and he works with us on the specifics of our cases.’

‘We were deeply impressed by Kevin Sidharta and his team due to their hard work, team spirit and superb responsiveness to various rounds of enquiries and requests under tight schedules, even in the Covid era.’

Client testimonials (quoted from Legal 500 Asia Pacific, 2022 ed.)

Kevin is a key member of the firm’s restructuring & insolvency; technology, media & telecommunications (TMT); and aviation practices, and also has busy M&A/FDI, real estate and project finance & development practices. He is listed as a “Next Generation Partner” for Restructuring & Insolvency by Legal 500 Asia Pacific, and is recommended for Aviation and IT, Telecoms & Fintech. He is also listed as a “Name to Know in Indonesia” for restructuring & insolvency by Global Restructuring Review (GRR).

Through his work over the years, he has developed particular experience, expertise and industry-specific knowledge in financial services, manufacturing, consumer goods, e-commerce, fintech, pharmaceuticals & healthcare, education, oil & gas, general mining, power & renewables, real estate & construction, shipping, aviation, automotive, plantations & agriculture, and tourism & hospitality.

In restructuring & insolvency, he has been involved in almost all major debt restructurings in Indonesia in recent years. In 2016, he led the ABNR team that acted for China Development Bank (one of the largest creditors with a debt of USD 600 million) in the USD 4.5-billion Bumi Resources global debt restructuring, the largest such deal in Southeast Asia at the time and one of the most complex deals of its kind ever in the region – the team also represented two other creditors, Madison Pacific Trust Ltd and Pathfinder Strategic Credit LP, during the Indonesian court-sanctioned debt restructuring process (Penundaan Kewajiban Pembayaran Utang or “PKPU”) in the Indonesian Commercial Court.

Previously in 2012-2013, he acted for various vessel lessor creditors and shipowner entities in the USD 2-billion Indonesian court-sanctioned restructuring of PT Berlian Laju Tanker Tbk (BLT), one of the longest and most complicated court-sanctioned restructuring processes ever in Indonesia. After the BLT PKPU was completed, he also advised the secured parties under BLT’s approximately USD 650 million Senior Secured MLA Credit Facility, including DNB Bank ASA, Singapore Branch, the facility agent, and affiliates of KKR and York Capital, the largest lenders under the facility, in the second stage of BLT’s debt restructuring process in 2014-2015, which constituted the first ever out-of-court amendment of a court-approved restructuring plan under Indonesia’s PKPU regime.

In 2016, he led the ABNR team representing a major Japanese integrated trading and investment conglomerate in the approx. USD 2-billion debt restructuring of PT Asmin Koalindo Tuhup.

He was also a member of the ABNR team that represented a number of oil and gas service providers in the recently concluded USD 412-million debt restructuring of PT Apexindo Pratama Duta, one of Indonesia’s largest oil and gas drilling companies.

He is currently advising an international bank on the ongoing USD 2-billion debt restructuring of Duniatex group, one of the Indonesia’s biggest textile conglomerates.

In TMT, he advises many of the world’s best-known technology, internet and social-media companies, including the Asia-based world’s largest game company, a leading Asia-based video-sharing and social-networking company, and a number of U.S.-based household names.

Over the last year, he has advised a long list of clients on the compliance with Indonesian law of their standard documentation, such as non-disclosure agreements, terms of service; privacy policies; procurement agreements; agreements with content providers, etc.

He has also advised clients on a wide range of specific issues over the last year, such as telecommunications regulatory and licensing frameworks (including for submarine cables and satellites); cybersecurity and data privacy; the blocking of access to platforms by the Indonesian government on national security or public morality grounds; the operation of digital platforms in Indonesia; minimum age requirements for accessing content; advertising; law enforcement and data interception; over-the-top (OTT) services; political issues related to online media; and Indonesian regulations on online games.

In aviation, his recent work includes assisting Castlelake (an Ireland-based aircraft leasing company) with the Indonesian aspects of the formation of a new aircraft-backed securitization (ABS) over four Castlelake-owned Boeing 737-900ER aircraft; ACS for the Indonesian aspects of the purchase of 2 Boeing 747-400 aircraft; and Marathon Aviation Fund LP on the Indonesian aspects of the purchase, novation and financing of an aircraft from Aircastle.

Tying in with his restructuring & insolvency practice, he has been involved in most restructuring & insolvency matters in the Indonesian aviation sector in recent years, including the Indonesian court-sanctioned debt restructuring of PT Mandala Airlines and the PT Metro Batavia insolvency.

In M&A, he has led several projects, including the acquisition of PT Mandala Airlines by Saratoga group (an Indonesian private equity company) and the acquisition of an Indonesian coal mining company by entities owned by South Korean conglomerate SK group.

In FDI, he is presently assisting Pegatron Corporation (an assembler of Apple iPhones) on various issues surrounding their establishment of a new USD 300-million iPhone manufacturing operation in Batam province in Indonesia.

In real estate, Kevin’s work over the last several years includes assisting ICBC Bank with the proposed financing for the approx. USD 1.5 billion Signature Tower project (now aborted) and the Indonesian subsidiary of China Fortune Land Development (CFLD) Co Ltd for the acquisition of total of +/- 494 hectares of land in an industrial estate in Karawang.

In project finance & development, he has led a number of notable projects, including PT Patra SK’s USD 127.5-million Lube Base Oil Plant Project; and PT Krakatau Posco Energy’s USD 193.9-million, 200-MW Captive Power Plant Project. He is currently involved in the USD 5.9-billion Jakarta-Bandung High Speed Rail Project being developed by PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia China.

Kevin holds a law degree (majoring in business law) from the University of Indonesia and an LL.M. in international business law (cum laude) from Leiden University in the Netherlands. In 2015, he spent time on secondment at one of the Netherlands’ leading law firms.

Prior to earning his LL.M, he was an ABNR researcher with the Indonesian Bankruptcy Law Monitoring Project, a technical assistance project funded jointly by the IMF and the Netherlands government. He is a regularly contributor of articles on topic legal issues to various publications, and is a frequent speaker at workshops and seminars.

His recent publications include a chapter titled The Commercial Courts: A Story of Unfinished Reforms, which was written jointly with Mr. Gustaaf Reerink, Mr. Aria Suyudi and Ms. Sophie Hewitt, and was published by Cambridge University Press in 2019 in The Politics of Court Reform: Judicial Change and Legal Culture in Indonesia.

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP:
PERADI (Indonesian Advocates Association)
AKHI (Association of Indonesian Legal Consultants)

CITIZENSHIP:
Indonesian

LANGUAGES:
Indonesian
English

AWARDS:

Legal 500 APAC - Next Generation Partner 2023

Legal 500 APAC - Recommended Lawyer 2023