Global law firm White & Case LLP is strengthening its Energy, Infrastructure, Project and Asset Finance (EIPAF) practice in Southeast Asia with key appointments in Singapore.

Partner Steve Payne has relocated to the Firm's Singapore office from Beijing to lead the practice, while David Gartside has joined the Singapore office as counsel.

White & Case Global Project Finance Practice Leader, Art Scavone said:

"There has been an upturn in cross-border project financing activity in Southeast Asia in recent years. Steve's relocation to Singapore demonstrates our ability and commitment to deploy our project finance lawyers to the regions where we can best service our global clients."

White & Case Asia Regional Section Head Barrye Wall, said:

"Together, Steve and David bring deep experience in large-scale and complex project development and financing transactions across a range of industries and significantly enhance our capability to serve the diverse needs of our sponsor and lender clients in Southeast Asia."

Steve has been with W&C for more than 15 years advising sponsors and commercial, export credit and multilateral lenders on project finance. His recent experience includes advising Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) on its joint venture with The Dow Chemical Company to build and operate a US$20 billion world-scale integrated chemicals complex in Jubail Industrial City, Saudi Arabia. Steve has worked in Indonesia, and he was based in Washington, DC before moving to the Firm's office in Beijing in 2006.

David has extensive experience advising Japanese and Korean financial institutions, trading houses and contractors on joint overseas projects and recently advised the lenders on the US$215 million financing for a ferrosilicon smelter plant located in Samalaju Industrial Park, Sarawak, Malaysia. He spent 18 months on secondment at Korea Eximbank in Seoul before joining the Firm's office in Singapore from Allen & Overy.

Steve and David will work closely with Nadia Soraya, a partner with MD & Partners, a newly established Indonesian law firm based in Jakarta with which White & Case has established an association. Nadia's experience includes advising the preferred bidder consortium consisting of Japanese, Korean and Indonesian companies on the first of the new-generation IPPs in Indonesia.