Yemi Tépé

Yemi Tépé has over 21 years of experience advising clients on the full spectrum of financings including domestic and cross-border acquisition and leveraged finance, public to private takeovers, real estate finance, debt restructuring and restructuring, margin loans, syndicated lending and subscription line financing.

Her clients include leading international banks and financial institutions, private equity sponsors, multinational corporations, alternative financiers such as credit funds, hedge funds and asset managers and emerging growth, mid-cap, and large public and privately held companies.

She has represented clients on their significant transactions in Singapore, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, India, Hong Kong, Mainland China, and the United States, as well as across Europe. Her practice spans all sectors including: private equity, technology and telecoms, banks and financial institutions, education, energy and real estate.

Yemi brings deep transactional experience to the table, regularly advising on big-ticket mandates for both borrowers and lenders. Clients have commented that "She is excellent in leading deal structuring and execution from a legal aspect, and is thorough, diligent and commercial." Yemi is also singled out as a "strong partner" with "a lot of transactional experience and knowledge." She is considered "a very safe pair of hands" who is "extremely commercial and user-friendly", "methodical in her work process", and "amazingly responsive,"; she is also "very reliable, and never puts a step wrong" and her "expertise blew everyone's socks away." Clients also highlight her "balanced view for both the borrowing and the lending parties," and "solid work" where "we don't have to look over her shoulder, there's a lot of trust."

Yemi has been ranked as a leading lawyer for Banking and Finance by Chambers Global and Chambers Asia-Pacific since 2011. She is highly regarded for her exceptional legal work by IFLR1000 and recognized as a Next Generation Partner by The Legal 500 Asia-Pacific. She is also recognized as a leading lawyer since 2014 and named Lawyer of the Year for Banking and Finance 2022 by Best Lawyers, Singapore.

Yemi is a member of the Global Board of Directors and Global Finance Committee at MoFo. Through her role on the firm's Global Diversity Strategy Committee, she plays an active role in recruiting, developing, and retaining diverse lawyers at MoFo, and in mentoring and training our young associates. Outside of MoFo, Yemi is a member of the Singapore branch of the APLMA Documentation Committee.

Prior to moving to Singapore in 2012, Yemi worked for several years in London and Tokyo. She is also a fluent French speaker.

Representative Experience

• The senior lenders on the acquisition financing to CVC Capital Partners for the acquisition of TRY Group, the largest one-to-one tutoring services provider in Japan.
• GLP Pte. Ltd. in relation to subscription line facilities for GLP Japan Development Partners IV (JDP IV), which will have USD9.1 billion in assets under management when fully deployed, one of the largest-ever Japan-focused private real estate funds.
• GLP Pte. Ltd. on a USD658 million sustainability linked syndicated loan facility.
• The mezzanine lenders on the acquisition financing to CVC Capital Partners for the USD1.5 billion acquisition of Shiseido's personal care business.
• The mezzanine lenders on Bain Capital’s approximately USD380 million acquisition of Kirindo, a Japanese pharmacy chain store operator. 
• SoftBank Group Corporation in connection with senior and mezzanine acquisition facilities for OYO’s acquisition of Netherlands-based @Leisure. 
• PA Chokmah Investment Limited (wholly owned by Ping An Overseas Holdings), as lender in relation to a HKD500 million convertible loan to Wisdom Education International Holdings Company Limited, a Hong Kong listco, principally engaged in operating premium primary and secondary schools in China.
• BlackRock in relation to offshore and onshore acquisition financing in its acquisition of two blocks of grade-A office buildings in Changning, Shanghai from PGIM Real Estate, a property investment affiliate of Prudential Financial.
• MUFG Bank, Ltd. as mandated lead arranger and underwriter of acquisition facilities for two strategic acquisitions aggregating close to USD1billion by Siam City Cement Public Company Limited, a listco on the Stock Exchange of Thailand and Thailand’s second largest cement producer, from LafargeHolcim Ltd.
• Various lenders and private equity funds in relation to capital call/subscription facilities, fund financings and borrowing base facilities.