Member Profiles

Areas of practice Bob Scharfe is a Partner and heads the Banking, Finance and Capital Markets practice of Luther’s Luxembourg office. He advises banks, multi-national corporations, and private equity firms on a wide range of banking and financing matters, capital markets, structured finance, securitisation and insolvency law aspects, and structuring private equity investments through Luxembourg. He also has solid experience in general corporate law. Practices Banking,  Finance & Capital Markets Capital Markets,  Banking & Finance Financial Services Investment Funds & Alternative Investments Vita Bob Scharfe obtained an LL.M. in International Business Law from the University of Kingston Upon-Hull, a Master's degree in Private Law from the University Robert Schuman in Strasbourg, and a Certificate in General Management from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He was admitted to the Luxembourg Bar in 2008. Prior to joining Luther in 2018, he worked in the banking, finance and capital markets department of an international law firm in Luxembourg. Honors and distinctions Legal 500 EMEA (2023): Ranked Leading Individual for Banking, Finance, Capital Markets Legal 500 EMEA (2022): Recognized for Banking, Finance and Capital Markets. "Bob Scharfe has an incredibly vast knowledge of all banking, finance, regulatory and corporate matters. He is also a very good listener which allows him to always have a holistic, full-picture view on issues and to always provide a correspondingly precise advice. But above all he’s an incredibly friendly and humble guy." IFLR1000 (2021/2022): Ranked in Banking as Highly regarded. Clients say: "Bob is proactive and hands on in his approach, but also delegates responsibilities well. He quickly assesses the individual attributes and challenges of different transactions and implements effective courses of action at inception, thereby reducing the risk of subsequent issues." IFLR1000 (2021): Ranked in Banking as Highly regarded. Clients say: "Bob is extremely knowledgeable on the trickiest issues, and always deals with them in a responsive and thorough way.""Our business includes and puts together very different stakeholders, such as banks, trust service providers, insurance companies or any company having a website or operating in the internet. It is quite complex meeting very different legal and regulatory requirements. Bob is incredibly fast in understanding the business, the relationship between the stakeholders, their needs and requirements. […] He has a very vast (legal) knowledge what makes it easy to discuss very different subjects with him without losing the view for the big picture, i.e. the connection between the different stakeholders and their legal/regulatory requirements." Legal 500 EMEA (2021): Recognized for Banking, Finance and Capital Markets. ‘Bob Scharfe has vast knowledge and experience and therefore the ability to look at matters from different angles/perspectives and to think outside of the box. He is also very well-connected in Luxembourg as well as to the other international offices of Luther.’ ‘Bob Scharfe is very calm under pressure.’ IFLR1000 (2020): Ranked in Banking as Highly regarded. Clients say: "[Bob] and his team have a broad set of experience and are sufficiently qualified to handle our most complex asset backed financing transactions." Described as "very proactive, solution focused, pragmatic and has very high knowledge." Legal 500 EMEA (2019): Recognised for Banking, finance and capital markets. IFLR1000 (2018): Mentioned for Financial and Corporate

Antonio Lobo Vilela is a lawyer qualified to practice in Macau, Portugal, and Brazil. His practice is almost entirely focused on gaming law. He was a senior legal adviser to the Commission of the first public tender to grant casino gaming concessions in Macau (2001-2002), and to the Macau Gaming Commission, a consultative body of, and presided over by, the Macau Chief Executive (2003-2009), dealing with the Hong Kong IPO projects of the Macau gaming operators, the financing projects, and the drafting of strategic papers on Macau gaming. He was also charged with (co)drafting the legal and regulatory framework for casino gaming, which is still in force, and the casino gaming concession and sub-concession contracts. He was a partner and founding member of LVT Lawyers, a boutique law firm focused on gaming law (2010-2015), and a legal adviser to the Secretary for Economy and Finance of the Macau government on gaming and gaming-related matters, as well as a member of the legislative affairs working group of the Macau Gaming Commission (2016-2020). He was an extern at the Nevada Gaming Control Board (2021) and is a member of the Gaming Law Committee of the Brazilian Bar Association (Federal District, Brasilia). He currently lectures Gaming Law at the Faculty of Business Administration of the University of Macau. Lobo Vilela has published several articles on gaming law, namely the Macau chapter at the Chambers & Partners Global Practice Guides on Gaming, Gambling & Licensing (2018), and is on the Expert Panel of The Law Reviews, a publication where he co-authors the chapter on Macau Gaming & Gambling.He is the author of the four-volume ‘Macau Gaming Law – Annotated with Comments,’ the most comprehensive book in English on the Macau (casino) gaming law (www.macaugaminglaw.com). He is also a regular speaker on events related to gaming. He holds a Law Degree with honors from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, Portugal, and a Master's Degree/LL.M in Gaming Law & Regulation from the William S. Boyd School of Law, UNLV - University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is ranked in Chambers Asia Pacific 2015 (General Business Law), Global 2015 (General Business Law), Asia Pacific 2016 (General Business Law and Gaming and Gambling) and received from Global Awards the Gaming Lawyer of the Year 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021- 22 awards.

Bogdanov and Bogdanov law office was founded already in 2004. Since then it has gained significant experience and practice in offering quality legal services and legal consulting for over than 15 years long. As a result of the commitment to quality in its performance and with a view to meeting the needs of its clients, the law firm succeeded to create a strong reputation in litigation of all parties all levels, both before judicial and administrative bodies in the country.The law office is composed of a team of young and ambitious lawyers which secure timely and well developed legal advice which will enable you to take proper decisions and to take proper actions in order to exercise your rights and defend your interests in accordance with the positive legislation in the Republic of North Macedonia. The law office and its team of legal professionals are based on knowledge, enthusiasm, confidence, collective, team spirit and availability all the time. Its excellent team and high-quality professional service as well as its dedication to success of its clients make the Bogdanov and Bogdanov law firm one of the leading law firms in the Republic of North Macedonia in several areas of legal practice.

Tafita joined Lexel Juridique & Fiscal in 2005. As Partner, he manages and supervises the legal team on all aspects. He assists Clients in the writing of all documents related to land issues, with extensive experiences in the energy and renewable energy sector. He is also involved in acquisition projects, public procurements, public-private partnerships, particularly in the fields of oil and mining and within the electricity sector. Tafita has advised: GreenYellow on corporate aspects and review of contracts related to a photovoltaic project in Madagascar; GIDE on a photovoltaic project in Madagascar; and Akuo Energy for the implementation of thermo-photovoltaic projects in Madagascar. Areas of expertise Energy Renewable energies Oil, Mining Specializations Public procurement – PPP M&A Competition law Land Law Education: Master in Private Law – Business Law - University of Antananarivo Diploma of University Studies (DEUSS) in Law - University of Antananarivo Languages: French Malagasy

YEE Fook Weng is an advocate and solicitor admitted to practice in both Singapore and West Malaysia. Graduating from the National University of Singapore in 1995, he trained with the law firm of Allen & Gledhill in Singapore before moving on to practice with Khattar Wong & Partners.  Fook Weng then practised for a number of years with the firm of K M Chye & Murad, an established corporate law firm based in Kuala Lumpur, where he headed its Corporate and Securities Practice Group.  Fook Weng is a founding – and current – senior partner of Murad Yee Partnership for more than 15 years.  Takeovers, mergers & acquisition transactions feature prominently in Fook Weng’s legal practice and his transactional experience includes being involved in a number of successfully completed bank mergers (including the worldwide merger of UOB-OUB), public listed company takeovers and large cross-border corporate acquisitions / disposals.   In the area of restructuring, Fook Weng has acted for statutory restructuring agencies and institutions like Danamodal Nasional Berhad and Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Berhad, as well as public listed companies in relation to various restructuring schemes – including those involving the Corporate Debt Restructuring Committee (CDRC) and Section 176 of the Companies Act 1965 (now Section 366 of the Companies Act 2016). With regard to initial public offerings (IPO), Fook Weng has played a key role in several noteworthy listings, including as the lead partner for the successful listing of the first Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) – Hibiscus Petroleum Berhad – on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad in 2011 and the subsequent completion of its cross-border Qualifying Acquisition.  In addition, Fook Weng has served as a coach for the Malaysian Government’s Coach & Grow maiden “Go IPO” Programme, which is aimed at guiding and developing local businesses towards IPOs and the global markets. As part of a broad range of corporate and securities portfolio engagements, Fook Weng has also been actively involved in private equity / venture capital investment transactions – including acting for major government-owned / funded venture capital and private equity funds like Malaysia Venture Capital Management Berhad (MAVCAP), MSC Venture Corporation Sdn Bhd (MSCVC), Agensi Inovasi Malaysia (AIM) and Malaysian-Industry Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT).     Besides being recognized by international publications such as The Asia Pacific Legal 500 for his work, Fook Weng has also been identified by the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Asialaw Leading Lawyers surveys for his practice in the field of “Mergers & Acquisitions” within the Asia-Pacific region and has been categorized as a “Highly Regarded Leading Lawyer” in the IFLR1000 2023/24 edition.   On the legal professional body front, Fook Weng currently serves as a member of two Malaysian Bar Council committees.