Clifford Chance advises blockchain payment network Partior on fundraising

Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has advised blockchain-based payment network Partior on its Series A financing and fundraising round, which sees Standard Chartered join Partior’s founding consortium including DBS Bank, J.P. Morgan Chase and Temasek. The firm had previously advised the consortium that first established Partior in 2021.

The investment accelerates and scales utility of Partior’s open industry platform across global capital markets with Standard Chartered serving as Partior’s first Euro settlement bank, broadening platform currency offerings beyond its first slate of eight global currencies.

Partior also recently launched its Hyderabad Development Centre and remains on track to deliver on its vision to transform global payments and become the worldwide ledger for financial institutions’ value exchange, having achieved a record end-to-end SGD-USD settlement in less than 120 seconds in October 2022.

Singapore Managing Partner Valerie Kong who led the Clifford Chance team on the transaction said, “We are delighted to advise Partior on its successful fundraising round, which will open up new opportunities in the transformation of cross-border payments. The transaction demonstrates the depth and breadth of our global expertise in DeFi.”

Valerie was supported by senior associate Matt Wentz, associates David Ho and Shi Cheng Chong, and trainee solicitor John Wu. A multi-jurisdictional team in Beijing, Brussels, Hong Kong, London, New York, Tokyo, Singapore and Washington, DC provided additional specialist advice:

• Partner Lena Ng advised on the Singapore regulatory aspects;
• Counsel Philip Angeloff advised on the US regulatory aspects;
• Counsel Hajime Saito and associate Tomoki Goto advised on the Japan regulatory aspects;
• Senior associate Jane Chen and trainee Yvonne Cheng advised on the China regulatory aspects;
• Partner Michael Seaton and associate Wei Bin Tan advised on the US tax aspects;
• Partner Richard Blewett, consultant Dayu Man, associate Helga Gudmundsdottir and trainee Chloe Lettington advised on the antitrust aspects;
• Consultant Brian Harley and senior associate Sharon Zhang provided advice on platform agreements; and
• Partner Ling Ho and senior associate Iris Mok advised on the IP aspects.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

Partior’s General Counsel Angie Ong commented, “Valerie and the Clifford Chance team demonstrated world class legal advisory throughout the whole process. We are privileged to have the Clifford Chance team as our trusted legal partners as Partior embarks on our vision to transform global payments and become the worldwide ledger for Financial Institutions’ value exchange.”

Partior is a blockchain-based technology developer and provider for digital payments clearing and settlement.