Foreign Lending and Security in Myanmar: Overview and the Latest Updates

Slowly but surely, experience is building up with respect to project finance and international corporate finance for companies and projects in Myanmar. With the many different deals that we have completed, we prepared a quick overview of the key things to know. We also touch upon some of the remaining hot issues.

Highlights of this note

• Legal framework for loans and security
• Government approvals needed for foreign loans
• Main types of borrowers corporate security providers
• Frequently used types of commercial security and contractual comforts
• Stamp duty implications in connection with secured interests and contractual comforts
• Security per type of asset
• Internal approvals required for granting security rights
• Registration and perfection of security
• Prohibitions on providing financial assistance
• Insolvency risk periods
• Enforcement of security rights
• Priority of secured creditors in the event of insolvency
• Choice of governing law
• Existence of a trust or equivalent concept
• Exchange control on remittances
• Withholding tax (“WHT”)