People / Nicole Leong
Profile
Nicole has extensive experience advising on competition law matters, including providing strategic guidance to businesses throughout the investigation process, defending enforcement proceedings and representing clients before the general competition regulator in Malaysia, the Competition Appeal Tribunal and the courts. She also advises businesses on complex competition law issues arising from their commercial strategies and operations, and has advised regulators on competition-related matters.
Her broader corporate and commercial practice encompasses mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, project negotiations, regulatory compliance and commercial arrangements. She advises both local and international clients across a range of industries, including manufacturing, healthcare and life sciences, renewable energy, digital services, medical devices and e-commerce. She also advises on a wide range of commercial contracts supporting clients’ day-to-day operations and commercial strategy. Nicole regularly speaks at seminars and conducts training on competition law and other legal and regulatory topics.
01Recent notable experience
Competition & Antitrust, Commercial Strategy & Market Conduct
- Representing FFM Berhad (represented Leong Hup Feedmill) in resisting MyCC’s price-fixing infringement decision involving a financial penalty of more than RM400 million in aggregate.
- Representing taska operators in resisting a price-fixing infringement decision involving child care services in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor.
- Representing Novatis (and represented Silver Tech Synergy) in resisting MyCC's first bid-rigging decision involving four contracts worth about RM1.9 million from the National Academy of Arts, Culture and Heritage of Malaysia (ASWARA).
- Successfully defended AirAsia against a market sharing infringement decision involving a financial penalty of RM10 million by MyCC in the Federal Court.
- Involved in successfully defending Megasteel Sdn Bhd, an upstream steel maker, against a proposed infringement decision issued by the MyCC alleging abuse of dominant position in Malaysia involving a financial penalty of RM4.5 million.
- Involved in representing the main regulator of insurance companies in the decision issued by the MyCC against the General Insurance Association of Malaysia and its 22 members for price fixing infringement which involved an aggregate financial penalty of more than RM170 million before the MyCC and the Competition Appeal Tribunal.
- Involved in representing a multinational technology company against the proposed decision by the MyCC on alleged abuse of dominance involving a financial penalty of more than RM80 million.
Compliance, Governance & Risk, Data, Digital, AI
- Advised a Hong Kong financial trading company on the general restrictions on the offering and sale of Guaranteed Structure Notes to institutional investors in Malaysia.
- Advised a Spanish travel technology company on whether its virtual card payment system falls within the definition of “authorised business” regulated by the Central Bank of Malaysia under the Financial Services Act 2013, potential restrictions relating to commercialising it in Malaysia, and legal restrictions imposed by the Central Bank of Malaysia on payment or remittance.
- Assisted a Danish multinational company engaged in the manufacture of nonwoven solutions to review and localise its data protection procedures to ensure alignment with Malaysian personal data protection laws.
- Advised a German multinational software corporation on the applicable legal obligations of a company in Malaysia (the Data Importer) receiving personal information from a business based in the European Union, where that personal information is processed in Malaysia.
- Advised a German multinational software corporation on data breach notification obligations under the Malaysian Personal Data Protection Act.
- Conducted anti-bribery and corruption compliance training for companies across industries including property development, online food delivery, copper and alloy manufacturing, shipping and logistics, automotive components manufacturing, engineering and financial services.
Corporate Transactions, M&A, Market Entry
- Advised a Japanese healthcare enterprise on the acquisition of an ambulatory care centre in Kuala Lumpur for a purchase consideration of RM31 million.
- Advised a leading Malaysian plastic pallet manufacturer on a strategic investment of up to RM20 million by a leading circular economy investment management firm based in Singapore.
- Advised a local family-owned business on the disposal of their shares in companies carrying on the manufacture and sale of non-metallic cable management and electrical components, valued at approximately RM250 million, to a subsidiary of the French global specialist in electrical and digital building infrastructures.
- Advised a Japanese conglomerate on its investments in private medical clinics in Malaysia.
- Advised a Singaporean venture capital firm in relation to the acquisition of shares in a big data analytics company seeking Series A funding.
- Advised a Singapore medtech company on the acquisition of a 70% stake in a Malaysia-based medtech company developing products for cardiovascular, orthopaedics, anaesthesiology, nephrology and critical care applications.
02Qualifications
Advocate & Solicitor, High Court of Malaya
University of Malaya
LL.B (Hons) (Second Class Upper)
King's College London
Postgraduate Diploma in Economics for EU Competition Law
MAICSA Grad CGI
Graduate of The Chartered Governance Institute
HRD Corp
Accredited Trainer
Languages
EnglishChineseMalay
03Awards & recognition
2025 - 2026
Elite Practitioner — GCR 100
Global Competition Review
2024
Ranked Practitioner — GCR 100
Global Competition Review
2025 - 2026
Notable Practitioner — Competition / Antitrust
asialaw Awards
2024
Shortlisted — Malaysia Female Lawyer of the Year
asialaw Awards
2021 - 2022, 2024
Shortlisted — Young Lawyer of the Year
ALB Malaysia Law Awards
2019 - 2022
Notable Practitioner — Corporate / M&A
asialaw Leading Lawyers
2019 - 2022
Recommended — Antitrust & Competition
The Legal 500 Asia-Pacific
2019
Recommended — Corporate / M&A
The Legal 500 Asia-Pacific
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