BH2I featured in Chambers and Partners Asia-Pacific 2023
About
Provided by BH2I Pte Ltd
Asia-Pacific
BH2I - BENJAMIN HIRASAWA HOSPITALITY INTERNATIONAL
Firm Details
Market Profile: International firm with cross border specialist expertise
Managing Partner: Benjamin Hirasawa
Primary Geographic Focus: Asia - Pacific regional expertise
Firm Headquarters: Singapore, Thailand
20 years of international experience in landmark transactions
32 Countries with jurisdiction
42 Countries with execution capabilities
26 Countries with professional qualifications
32 Countries with language capability
Press Coverage:
Press coverage regarding BH2I’s launch highlighted its unique approach, which has resonated within the hospitality industry and many of BH2I’s clients. An excerpt from the below summarizes this concept well.
“BH2I stands for Benjamin Hirasawa Hospitality International,”
Hirasawa to Asia Business Law Journal. “We are marketing under the BH2I name in an attempt to show the market that while we are appreciative that we are well-known for our hospitality expertise, that our foreign direct investment, private equity, corporate and real estate sector capabilities are also very much a part of our DNA.”
Headquartered in Singapore and Bangkok, BH2I specializes in advising real estate, corporate and hospitality clients on foreign direct investment. Other core offerings include international business transactions including private equity financings, joint ventures, cross-border M&A, and hotel, commercial and residential projects.
“We believe that BH2I’s lean business model, which features attorneys with large law firm pedigrees and reputation, and a hybrid bricks-and-mortar/virtual law firm structure, is genetically engineered to provide the market with greater value for legal services,” says Hirasawa.
He says larger global and institutional organizations have in the past adhered to a traditional mindset of wanting a large law firm with bricks-and-mortar offices in each city where they are located to work on their matters. “Many practitioners have wanted to streamline such a traditional law firm structure to use a business model that is similar to BH2I, but fear of widespread acceptance of a virtual law firm structure was viewed by many as an impediment to other potential firms and one of the perceived challenges we faced in setting up BH2I.
“The emerging post COVID19 ‘new normal’ environment has greatly assisted BH2I demonstrate that we offer efficiency and production of world-class work product in a hybrid virtual structure that can be superior to a cumbersome large law system and inflexible management model.”
In December 2020, BH2I’s Founder and Managing Partner was recognized as a ranked practitioner in Chambers and Partners 2021 Asia Pacific after only a few months after BH2I’s founding. BH2I has quickly become well known for its hotel management sector work in Singapore and Thailand, evidenced by its instruction on over 35 such engagement in 2020 and Hirasawa’s representation of BH2I on speaker panels at 2020 and 2021 SEAHIS and HICAP industry events.
BH2I feels its most significant accomplishment during its short existence is its initial success as with uncompromising ethical decision making, integrity, diversity, and respect for its clients, colleagues, communities, and profession as distinguishing characteristics and core values of the firm.
Recent Awards:
- BH2I advising on aspects of a Maldivian hospitality development that won Project of the year at HICAP 2021.
- BH2I was nominated for Rising Firm of the Year for ALB SE Asia Awards in less than 1 year after incorporation
- BH2I was selected as exclusive development counsel for a global luxury hotel operating company and concluded transactions for portfolio flags in Indonesia, Thailand, Maldives, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Korea, Taiwan, Myanmar and Macau in 2021
- BH2I was selected as primary development counsel for one of the 3 largest global hotel operating companies and concluded transactions for 12 countries for this operator in 2021.
- Ben was selected as a Who's Who Hospitality 2021 Global Leader
- Ben was selected for inclusion in First edition of "Successful People in Singapore".
- Ben has been recognized as a 2020 Acritas Stars™– independently rated lawyer.
- Ben led a team working on aspects of the acquisition of Six Senses Hotels that won deal of the year at HICAP 2019 and that was nominated for 2019 Practice Group of the Year by Legal 500 Asia Pacific
