Bio
Melissa Naik is a counsel within the Corporate department of Appleby’s Mauritius office. She qualified as a solicitor in England in the year 2000 and thereafter worked for a number of years in the financial services sector before starting to practise as a barrister in Mauritius in 2007 with exposure to various areas of Mauritian law, including civil, criminal, commercial, corporate, matrimonial, employment, insurance and intellectual property matters. She joined the firm in December 2016.
At Appleby, Melissa practises law in the following areas: corporate and commercial, financial services and regulatory, anti-financial crime, fraud and asset tracing, recovery of debt, restructuring and insolvency, fund structuring, migration of companies and insurance.
She has experience in a broad range of corporate-related matters (contentious and non-contentious) including advising both local and international clients on the establishment of and structuring of corporate vehicles in Mauritius, conducting due diligence of entities and issuing reports thereon, drafting of transactional and financing documentation, including those relating to corporate structuring, capital raising deals, securities offering and debentures, aircraft leasing and financing.
She also regularly conducts webinars of topics of interest and is part of the training institution which provides training courses to professionals.
She speaks fluent English and French.
Bio
Melissa Naik is a counsel within the Corporate department of Appleby’s Mauritius office. She qualified as a solicitor in England in the year 2000 and thereafter worked for a number of years in the financial services sector before starting to practise as a barrister in Mauritius in 2007 with exposure to various areas of Mauritian law, including civil, criminal, commercial, corporate, matrimonial, employment, insurance and intellectual property matters. She joined the firm in December 2016.
At Appleby, Melissa practises law in the following areas: corporate and commercial, financial services and regulatory, anti-financial crime, fraud and asset tracing, recovery of debt, restructuring and insolvency, fund structuring, migration of companies and insurance.
She has experience in a broad range of corporate-related matters (contentious and non-contentious) including advising both local and international clients on the establishment of and structuring of corporate vehicles in Mauritius, conducting due diligence of entities and issuing reports thereon, drafting of transactional and financing documentation, including those relating to corporate structuring, capital raising deals, securities offering and debentures, aircraft leasing and financing.
She also regularly conducts webinars of topics of interest and is part of the training institution which provides training courses to professionals.
She speaks fluent English and French.
Work Highlights
Melissa has worked on a number of transactions for banking and financial institutions, private equity and hedge fund clients, some of which are Goldman Sachs, Holcim, HSBC, Zola, Greenko, Bank of Singapore, D.E. Shaw Group, BOCI, Standard Bank of South Africa, Smile Telecoms and Al Nahla Group.
Some of the matters she has worked on include:
- Advice on the Mauritius law related aspects of the sale of part Holcim’s cement business for a price of USD 6.4 billion
- Advising and assisting the consortium of lenders/banks, on the Mauritius law related aspects in relation to the issue of notes by the Carlyle Group in order to raise USD 1 billion in debt
- Advice to the leading power and energy group ZOLA on its USD 90 million funding raise by way of equity and loans. The equity funding was led by a pool of investors which included TotalEnergies Ventures — a capital venture of TotalEnergies. The debt financing featured, amongst others, top energy lenders FMO and SunFunder, two entities known to provide debt capital to solar companies in emerging markets. Proceeds will be used to develop next generation hardware and software technology, focused on bringing reliable, affordable and clean energy to Africa, Asia and Latin America. ZOLA’s leading technology is bringing distributed, clean, digital energy solutions to those who lack reliable and affordable energy, commonly referred to as the Energy Access sector.
- Advising SelfKey ,a transformative, blockchain-based digital identity solution, which allows individuals and companies to truly own, control and manage their digital identity. Appleby assisted on SelfKey’s offering, which raised a total of USD 22 million. The Appleby team devised and implemented an innovative corporate structure to conduct the sale and to govern the SelfKey network as the community grows.
- Advising in a structured finance deal of USD363 million 4.25 % senior secured notes due 2027 issued by Mauritius-based Clean Renewable Power (Mauritius) Pte. Ltd. The Issuer is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hero Future Energies Asia Pte. Limited, an independent power producer in India with a renewable energy portfolio of more than 2 gigawatts of capacity, including assets under construction. The Notes were listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited.
Work Highlights
Melissa has worked on a number of transactions for banking and financial institutions, private equity and hedge fund clients, some of which are Goldman Sachs, Holcim, HSBC, Zola, Greenko, Bank of Singapore, D.E. Shaw Group, BOCI, Standard Bank of South Africa, Smile Telecoms and Al Nahla Group.
Some of the matters she has worked on include:
- Advice on the Mauritius law related aspects of the sale of part Holcim’s cement business for a price of USD 6.4 billion
- Advising and assisting the consortium of lenders/banks, on the Mauritius law related aspects in relation to the issue of notes by the Carlyle Group in order to raise USD 1 billion in debt
- Advice to the leading power and energy group ZOLA on its USD 90 million funding raise by way of equity and loans. The equity funding was led by a pool of investors which included TotalEnergies Ventures — a capital venture of TotalEnergies. The debt financing featured, amongst others, top energy lenders FMO and SunFunder, two entities known to provide debt capital to solar companies in emerging markets. Proceeds will be used to develop next generation hardware and software technology, focused on bringing reliable, affordable and clean energy to Africa, Asia and Latin America. ZOLA’s leading technology is bringing distributed, clean, digital energy solutions to those who lack reliable and affordable energy, commonly referred to as the Energy Access sector.
- Advising SelfKey ,a transformative, blockchain-based digital identity solution, which allows individuals and companies to truly own, control and manage their digital identity. Appleby assisted on SelfKey’s offering, which raised a total of USD 22 million. The Appleby team devised and implemented an innovative corporate structure to conduct the sale and to govern the SelfKey network as the community grows.
- Advising in a structured finance deal of USD363 million 4.25 % senior secured notes due 2027 issued by Mauritius-based Clean Renewable Power (Mauritius) Pte. Ltd. The Issuer is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hero Future Energies Asia Pte. Limited, an independent power producer in India with a renewable energy portfolio of more than 2 gigawatts of capacity, including assets under construction. The Notes were listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited.
Coverage & Insights
Melissa is a regular contributor to articles and webinars on Mauritius-related matters. Her articles can be found in the publications on the Appleby website. Other contributions include:
- Types of Security in Mauritius (webinar – 17 April 2023)
- Data Protection laws in Mauritius (webinar – 21 June 2023)
- MAURITIUS: Cryptocurrencies and virtual assets – how ready are we? (Step Journal, Issue 5 of 2022)
- Contribution to the Mauritius chapter to the Chambers and Partners’ “Fintech 2018” guide
- Africa Round Table – Speaker on “Offshore structures and strategy” (Insol conference – 10 November 2017)
- Marine Biotechnology Workshop – Speaker on “Way forward for establishing an enabling legal and regulatory framework in Mauritius” (Board of Investment conference – 13 November 2017)
- Ship Registry Workshop – Board of Investment – Speaker on “Positioning Mauritius in the Global Arena: effective measure to keep pace with international maritime obligations” (Economic Development Board conference – 20 February 2019)
Coverage & Insights
Melissa is a regular contributor to articles and webinars on Mauritius-related matters. Her articles can be found in the publications on the Appleby website. Other contributions include:
- Types of Security in Mauritius (webinar – 17 April 2023)
- Data Protection laws in Mauritius (webinar – 21 June 2023)
- MAURITIUS: Cryptocurrencies and virtual assets – how ready are we? (Step Journal, Issue 5 of 2022)
- Contribution to the Mauritius chapter to the Chambers and Partners’ “Fintech 2018” guide
- Africa Round Table – Speaker on “Offshore structures and strategy” (Insol conference – 10 November 2017)
- Marine Biotechnology Workshop – Speaker on “Way forward for establishing an enabling legal and regulatory framework in Mauritius” (Board of Investment conference – 13 November 2017)
- Ship Registry Workshop – Board of Investment – Speaker on “Positioning Mauritius in the Global Arena: effective measure to keep pace with international maritime obligations” (Economic Development Board conference – 20 February 2019)
Qualifications & Education
- University of Buckingham (England) – LLB (Hons)
- BPP Law School, London (England) – Legal Practice Course
- Council of Legal Education (Mauritius) – Bar Vocational Course
- International Compliance Association – International Diploma in Governance, Risk and Compliance (Merit)
- International Centre for Asset Recovery of the Basel Institute on Governance – Crypto AML Compliance
Qualifications & Education
- University of Buckingham (England) – LLB (Hons)
- BPP Law School, London (England) – Legal Practice Course
- Council of Legal Education (Mauritius) – Bar Vocational Course
- International Compliance Association – International Diploma in Governance, Risk and Compliance (Merit)
- International Centre for Asset Recovery of the Basel Institute on Governance – Crypto AML Compliance
Memberships & Associations
- Mauritius Bar Association
- STEP
- Institute of Governance
Memberships & Associations
- Mauritius Bar Association
- STEP
- Institute of Governance