Anil Motwani

Anil Motwani is a Partner at A&O Shearman in Singapore, focusing on Banking and Finance Law. He focuses on advising Asia-based sponsors on the formation and operation of private funds, including private equity funds, venture capital funds, real estate funds, as well as hedge funds.

He has over a decade of experience in Asia structuring funds that invest across strategies and sectors in India, Southeast Asia and other regional and global markets. He provides legal and strategic compliance advice to fund managers under US federal securities laws, in particular the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

In addition, Anil represents sovereign wealth funds and large family offices in the build-out of their global investment portfolios, including through co-investments, direct investments and secondaries transactions. He also provides legal advice to non-US companies under the U.S. Investment Company Act of 1940 in connection with equity and debt offerings and other financing transactions.

He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

His representative matters include advising an India real estate sponsor with US$5 billion+ deployed in aggregate on multiple capital raises and financing projects, including the largest commercial property transaction in India for 2024, valued at over INR 20 billion; advising a startup team of venture capitalists on the formation of an India-focused consumer tech fund, including recapitalisation with debt from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC); advising an India long-biased hedge fund with AUM of US$1.5 billion+ on the launch of its flagship fund series, including the sale of a strategic interest in the manager to an Asian sovereign wealth fund; advising a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund on numerous fund investments and co-investments, including the clinical development of several pre-market drugs; and advising an Asian sovereign wealth fund on numerous fund investments and co-investments, including the establishment of a US$6 billion account with a New York-based manager to invest in ESG-linked real estate and infrastructure assets.

His expertise covers funds and asset management, private equity, real estate and fund finance, with industries spanning energy, financial institutions, fintech, life sciences and healthcare, industrials and manufacturing, infrastructure and transport, mining and metals, and private capital.

His published work includes “Capitalizing on India’s growth: A dive into fund structures and regulatory insights” (2024), the Chambers Global Practice Guide chapter on Investment Funds: Hong Kong Law and Practice (2024), “ESG Regulatory Trend: Visions of a Unitary Regime” in the Hong Kong Venture Capital and Private Equity Association Journal (2024), and the Hong Kong Fundraising chapter of The Private Equity Review (2024).

He is recognised as a Recommended Lawyer for Investment Funds in China and Hong Kong by The Legal 500 Asia Pacific (2024) and as a Leading Lawyer – Rising Star in Hong Kong Investment Funds by IFLR1000 (2023–2024).

He holds a BA from the University of Southern California (2009) and a JD from Columbia Law School (2013), and is a CFA Charterholder (2021). He was admitted in New York in 2014 and in Hong Kong in 2020.