Dato’ George Miranda

Dato’ George Miranda
Managing Partner

Dato’ George Miranda has more than 25 years of experience as a practicing lawyer, at partner level. His expertise covers both contentious and non-contentious matters. He has a strong reputation for dealing with complex and high value corporate and litigation matters.
He is the Managing Partner of Kuala Lumpur based Miranda & Samuel, a law firm that has been singled out by The Legal 500 as a Leading Law Firm in the Asia Pacific region (in certain practice areas) for 10 consecutive years.

Notable Transactions

Mergers & Acquisitions

• Acting for the controlling shareholders of Inch Kenneth Kajang Rubber PLC (IKKR) in their delisting from the Main Board of the London Stock Exchange.
• Acting for the shareholders of RSP Group for the sale of 100% of their shares for SGD187million, resulting in a reverse takeover of Rowsley Limited (SGX Mainboard).
• Acting for Khazanah National Bhd (Malaysia’s Sovereign Wealth Fund) on its acquisition of CCN Sdn Bhd, a leading food logistics company in Malaysia.
• Acting for the shareholders of Cosmopoint Sdn Bhd in the disposal of 90% interest in Cosmopoint Sdn Bhd to Ekuinas for RM246 million in cash.
• Acting for the shareholders of KPK International Management Sdn Bhd in the disposal of their shares and the merger of their operations with AECOM, a Fortune 500 Company. 
• Acting for the controlling shareholders of OldTown Berhad in regards to numerous acquisitions, private placement and disposal.
• Acting for the purchasers of 100% equity interest in KHK Capital Holdings Sdn Bhd for RM53 million in cash.
• Acting for Malaysian Debt Ventures Bhd (Malaysia’s Sovereign Wealth Fund for investments through debt instruments) in regards to its investments in ICT and biotechnology companies.
• Acting for Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (a Malaysian government owned private equity firm which focuses on investments in technology) on its acquisition of Foresight Sdn Bhd and Delphax Sdn Bhd.
• Acting for Tune Group in regards to a USD50 million private equity-type transaction with Istithmar Group and Hong Leong Singapore to finance the development of 35 ‘no-frills’ hotels in Asia called “Tune Hotels”.
• Acting as Local Counsel for Asia Focus Ventures Sdn Bhd (a resource focused private equity firm) and Slade Resources Ltd for the acquisition of coal-mining and coal-trading companies in Malaysia and Indonesia valued at USD66 million.
• Acting for a strategic investor in negotiating the acquisition of a controlling stake in of a listed company in Msia that in turn would result in triggering two General Offers. Goldman Sachs (S) Pte Ltd acted as Financial Adviser.

Capital Markets

• Carrying out the pre-IPO legal and preparatory work for IPO’s on the ACE Market and the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia.
• Acting as Local Counsel and carrying out legal due diligence, local compliance and other related legal work for IPO’s on AIM, SGX, ASX and US Listings.
• Advising on post-IPO compliance matters.
• Author of “A Guide to an Initial Public Offering on Hong Kong’s GEM”. (Leeds Publication, 2002).
• This book is endorsed by Dr. K. S. Lo, Chairman of GEM, HKSE and Frank Slevin, the then Managing Director of Salomon Smith Barney.
• Author of “A Guide to an Initial Public offering on MESDAQ” (Leeds Publication, 2004).
• This book was written in collaboration with Bursa Malaysia.

Some publicly disclosed transactions

• Carrying out pre-Reverse Takeover legal and preparation work for the shareholders of RSP Group in their reverse takeover of Rowsley Ltd. (SGX).
• Carrying out the pre-IPO legal and preparation work for OldTown Berhad (Bursa Malaysia).
• Carrying out pre-IPO legal and preparation work for Air Asia Berhad’s main shareholder – Tune Group for the IPO’s of Air Asia and Tune Protect Group Berhad.
• Carrying out the legal due diligence and related legal work for a total of 8 coal assets in Indonesia, 2 coal assets in Malaysia, 2 gold assets in Malaysia, 2 gold asset in Indonesia, 4 palm oil plantations in Malaysia and 3 in Indonesia, for the purposes of capital market corporate exercises in AIM and/or SGX.
• Acting as IP Solicitors and Local Counsel for the IPO of CWorks Berhad, a building maintenance technology company.
• Acting as IP Solicitors and Local Counsel for the IPO of Jobstreet.com Berhad a leading pan-asian human capital recruitment portal.
• Acting as Local Counsel for GP Ocean Sdn Bhd (Malaysia’s largest fisheries and aquaculture company) on their AIM IPO.
• Acting for Inbit Corp in regards to their listing in the US (OTCQB).
• Acting for Golden Crop Limited for the acquisition of palm oil plantation assets in Indonesia and acting as Local Counsel for the AIM IPO.
• Acting for Supportive International Bhd in reviewing the documentation in regards to the entry of GEM Global Investors, a global fund with over USD5 billion in asset under management as a strategic investor.

Construction & Property Ligitation

• Active in representing parties in construction disputes.
• The legal representation covers proceedings in Malaysian courts, arbitration and adjudication.
• Admitted as a Certified Adjudicator by KLRCA. Acted as Adjudicator in construction disputes.
• Author of “The Law of Construction Disputes” (2017).

Commercial & Corporate Litigation

• Active in dispute resolution in general corporate disputes in the Malaysian courts and in domestic and international arbitrations.
• Experience includes disputes under KLRCA, SIAC, ICC, UNCITRAL and LCIA.
• General corporate disputes handled includes disputes involving cross border investments, breach of warranties, professional negligence, debt recovery, sale of goods, compulsory land acquisition under the Land Acquisition Act, 1960, defamation, media and entertainment.

Banking & Securities Litigation

• Assisting clients in a variety of matters affecting the financial services industry.
• Regularly advise and act for corporate borrowers, venture capital and private equity firms, mortgage lenders, consumer finance companies and other financial institutions.
• Litigating on behalf of our clients in disputes in Malaysian courts, as well as in arbitration and before governmental agencies.
• Advising clients on all types of financing, corporate, transactional, regulatory, and workout matters.

IP Litigation

• Acting for Tune Group in their trademark infringement suits against companies which used the following trademarks “iTune”, “Tune Travel”, “4Tune”, “Tune Holiday” etc.
• Acting for OldTown Berhad in their trademark infringement suits against companies which used the following trademarks “Oldtaste”, “Georgetown”, “OldCity Kopitiam” etc.
• Acted for Ranbaxy Ltd, a subsidiary of Daiichi Sankyo of Japan in its litigation on the Warner-Lambert “atrovastatin” patent in Malaysia, (and supervised the litigation in Brunei) in defending a patent infringement claim and initiating a revocation counterclaim, wherein an interlocutory injunction was successfully set aside, leading to the withdrawal of the infringement suit and the settlement of the matter.
• Acted for Ranbaxy Ltd a revocation of the “fluoxetine” patent in Malaysia, leading to a settlement in wherein the patent was surrendered
• Acting for Dabur Pharma Ltd, a subsidiary of Fresinius Kabi of Germany in respect of a patent infringement litigation and a revocation counter-claim in respect of a process patent relating to daxotaxel trihydrate in Malaysia.
• Acted for E.I Du Pont de Nemours in respect of patent infringement suits in respect of their 407A refrigerant gas patents in Malaysia where interlocutory and later permanent injunctions and damages were successfully obtained from all the defendants.
• Acting for R H Murphy Inc in a patent litigation with ITW Inc on a semiconductor tray patent litigation leading to a settlement and the provision of a license to the defendant.
• Acting for Groupe Dannone in respect of a major passing off and trade mark infringement suit in respect of their “Chipsmore” trade mark.
• Handling trade mark litigation and enforcement for various fashion brands such as French Connection UK and Valentino.
• Acting for various client’s in trade secrets and copyright infringement matters.
• Attending to hearings on trade mark matters as counsel in IPOS, Singapore.
• Acting in respect of various copyright and media law issues for entertainment companies negotiating rights with sponsors and broadcasters in reality TV programming.
• Acting for Delifrance in their arbitration proceedings against some of their franchisees (applying the Singapore International Arbitration Centre Rules).
• Acting for over 20 clients in their respective hearings for trademark registrations before the Registry.
• Acting for Levi’s franchisees in their dispute with their franchisor.

Franchising & Licensing

• Oldtown White Coffee – License Agreement, Franchise Agreement, Franchise Registration, Dispute Resolution and Litigation.
• PAPPARICH – License Agreement, Franchise Agreement, Franchise Registration, Dispute Resolution and Litigation.
• Levi’s – License Agreements, Dispute Resolution and Litigation.
• Tod’s – License Agreements, Franchise Agreements and Franchise Registration.
• Delifrance – License Agreements, Franchise Agreement, Dispute Resolution, and Litigation for Licensor.
• Tune Group – Tune Hotels – License Agreements, Franchise Agreement, Dispute Resolution and Litigation for Licensor.
• Cosmopoint Education Group – License Agreements, Franchise Agreement, Dispute Resolution and Litigation for Licensor.
• HELP Education Group – License Agreements, Dispute Resolution and Litigation for Licensor.
• Hugo Boss – License Agreement, Franchise Agreement, Dispute Resolution and Litigation for Licensor.
• Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) – License Agreement, Dispute Resolution and Litigation for Licensor.
• Author of “Franchising : A Guide to a Successful Franchise Business – George Miranda – 2^nd Ed (5^th Reprint)”

Government / Regulators

• Delivered seminars for the Government and Regulators on Franchise Law.
• Was the only lawyer in private practice appointed to advise the Government on drafting the amendments to the Franchise Act, 1998 (part of the advice was incorporated into the Franchise (Amendment) Act, 2012).

Recognition

Qualifications

• LLM, University of London
• Advocate & Solicitor of High Court of Malaya
• Certificate of Legal Practice
• LLB, University of London
• Admitted as a Certified Adjudicator by Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC)
• Notary Public
• Admitted as a member of The Law Society of England And Wales
• Attended Executive Training Programmes including Corporate Disclosure Policy under the Listing Requirements, MICPA-Bursa Malaysia Berhad Business Forums, Mandatory Accreditation Programme for Directors of Public Listed Companies.
• Conferment of DIMP