Asia Pacific 2023, Client Reviews
Shehara provides an excellent service and maintains very strong client relations
Shehara heads the M&A and employment law practice groups of the firm.
Shehara has over 25 years’ of experience in advising local and international clients on mergers and acquisitions as well as sale of business and leads teams on due diligence studies on companies including acquisitions in the course of privatisation.
Shehara’s focus on the employment practice led to its development as a standalone practice.
In addition to her M&A and employment law practice, she assists with the management of the Intellectual Property practice group of the firm.
Before joining FJ&G de Saram, Shehara worked as an Associate at S. Sundaralingam Associates, Attorneys – at – Law, working on litigation, property and general corporate advisory work.
Shehara joined the firm in 1996, whilst also working at the Institute for the Development of Commercial Law and Practice in Sri Lanka (ICLP), which was an endeavour by the firm to develop commercial law in the country.
Shehara is the Honorary Secretary General of the Arbitration Center of ICLP and also serves as a Director of the International ADR Centre Sri Lanka, which is a joint venture between the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and the ICLP. She also serves on the Council of Management of the ICLP.
She is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK and an accredited mediator. She is also a member of the Alternate Dispute Resolutions Committee of the International Trademark Association (INTA) and a member of the International Bar Association and a panelist of the Maldives International Arbitration Centre.
She holds a master’s degree in international trade from the University of Wales UK, an LLB from the Open University, Sri Lanka
Shehara is regularly ranked a leading lawyer by international legal directories such as Chambers and Partners, IFLR, AsiaLaw and Legal500.
As the head of the Merger and Acquisition practice group, Shehara leads teams on due diligence studies and advises foreign and local clients on the acquisition and divestment of shares in companies in many industries including Banking, Business Process Outsourcing, E – Commerce, Education, Finance Leasing, Garment Manufacturing, Graphite mining, Hotels, Information Technology, Insurance, Label manufacturing, Paint, Petroleum, Pharmaceutical, Retail Trade and FMCG, Security, Shipping and logistics, Steel manufacturing, Trading, Tea plantations, Tea Broking, Telecommunications, Tyre manufacturing and Power/ Renewable Energy.
Some specific transactions Shehara was involved in include, advising the Sri Lankan subsidiary of a Dutch bank on its sale to a Sri Lankan banking and financial services institution, an American multinational financial services corporation specialized in payment cards on the sale of its business to a licensed commercial bank in Sri Lanka, a leading global supplier of high-purity natural graphite on the acquisition of graphite mines in Sri Lanka, a middle eastern airline on the sale of its shares in the national carrier, one of Sri Lanka’s largest telecommunications service providers on many of the acquisition of companies in the telecom and allied industries including the largest e-commerce business in Sri Lanka, an Indian multinational conglomerate on the acquisition and sale of several of its subsidiaries. A British multinational insurance company and a German general insurance company on its acquisition of an insurance business in Sri Lanka and a Sri Lankan blue chip conglomerate on the acquisition of renewable energy projects.
Shehara advises multinational and local companies on a day to day basis on a varied range of employment matters such as contracts of employment, employee hand books, transfer of employees and voluntary retirement schemes resulting from a transfer of a business or as a result of restructuring.
She advises on superannuation benefits, private employment provident funds and on the transfer of such funds, obtained approvals from the Commissioner General of Labour and the Commissioner General of Inland Revenue in terms of relevant laws in Sri Lanka, service agreements, outsourcing arrangements, retirement and termination of employment.
Shehara has also advised multinational companies/organisations such as a Dutch bank, the oldest privately owned bank in the United Arab Emirates, a German multinational investment bank and financial services company, a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Tokyo, an American pharmaceutical company, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical corporations, a holding company providing financial services globally through its subsidiaries, a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, an American worldwide clothing and accessories retailer, an advertisement holding company incorporated by American advertising pioneers, a charity of French origin that provides humanitarian medical care, a Japanese governmental agency that delivers the bulk of official development assistance for the government of Japan and several local companies on the transfer of employees and voluntary retirement schemes resulting from a transfer of a business or as a result of restructuring.
She has also advised clients such as an American multinational finance and insurance corporation with operations in more than 80 countries, a global shipping company carrying out all of its documentation operations in Sri Lanka, a multinational clothing company based in Sweden and other global entities on various employment matters in relation to the closure of their business in Sri Lanka. She regularly advises clients of the firm such as two leading airlines of the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, a major British multinational retailer headquartered in London, a multinational clothing company based in Sweden, a British-owned education publishing and assessment service, two American multinational technology corporations, an American multinational financial technology company that provides payment technology and services to merchants, issuers and consumers, an aerospace and defense company in U.S.A., a multinational hospitality company headquartered in Hong Kong, the largest bank in Japan, a Japanese governmental agency that delivers official development assistance for the Government of Japan etc., on day to day employment matters such as contracts of employment, service agreements, employee handbooks, agreements relating to outsourcing of employees, laws applicable to trade unions, retirement and termination of employment, flexible work arrangements etc.
Shehara provides an excellent service and maintains very strong client relations