Frasers Law Company launches second edition of M&A Guide

Launched on May 10, the Frasers Vietnam M&A Guide provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date M&A guide in Vietnam.

“It is arguably the most scintillating read of 2022 for people interested in M&A transactions in Vietnam and focuses on key regulatory considerations that need to be considered when undertaking a successful M&A deal in Vietnam,” the law firm's statement said.

The second edition of the Frasers Vietnam Mergers & Acquisitions Guide launched this May

M&A hit new highs in 2021, breaking all previous records despite the impact of the pandemic. As a result, Vietnam enjoys a vibrant and ever-expanding M&A market.

“Opportunities for investors in the M&A market are increasingly available, across the full spectrum of industry sectors. The government continues to foster a vibrant M&A market in Vietnam, enhancing meaningful and effective legal, regulatory, administrative, and bureaucratic reforms, for the benefit of both foreign and domestic investors,” Frasers stated.

According to Justin Gisz, partner of Fraser Law Company and author of the guide, positive sentiment has been continuously shown by foreign investors for M&A activities in the Vietnamese market.

“Venture capital and private equity funds, as well as corporate investors from around the world, are increasingly interested in Vietnam. There have recently been many investment funds raised with specific mandates focused on Southeast Asia or Vietnam in particular,” Gisz said.

“We have been seeing many manufacturers moving from abroad to Vietnam to find alternative bases, given Vietnam’s strong position and even stronger prospects and the huge potential for growth and profitability in the country,” he added.

In 2021, Frasers Law Company was involved in advising clients on 85 matters related to M&A transactions in Vietnam across a broad spectrum of industry sectors including banking and finance, education, energy, FMCG, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, insurance, IT, media and telecoms, manufacturing, infrastructure, real estate and many more.

Nevertheless, the first quarter of the year has seen a mild cooling of M&A activity in Vietnam.

“The first quarter of 2022 has seen a slow-down in M&A activity internationally and this has been reflected in Vietnam. We see this slow-down as being mainly the result of global uncertainty arising from geopolitical factors. Despite the cooling of the M&A market internationally, our pipeline of deals for the balance of 2022 remains strong and we expect this to continue into 2023 and beyond, given the undeniably compelling fundamentals of Vietnam as an international investment destination,” said Gisz.

Justin Gisz, partner of Fraser Law Company stated that positive sentiment has been continuously shown by foreign investors for M&A activities in the Vietnamese market

Regarding the legal framework for M&A activities in Vietnam, Gisz asserted that despite regulations now being better than ever, two key issues that could be improved are the merger control regime and acquisition approval procedures.

“These two regulatory approval processes should be further simplified and streamlined going forward,” he said. “In particular, there are now far too many M&A deals which necessitate merger control notifications and this poses a significant barrier to many otherwise viable M&A deals, as a result of transaction timetable issues."

In addition, the foreign exchange control regime in Vietnam should be liberalised, to make it easier to move money into and out of Vietnam.

“Foreign exchange control regulations and procedures in Vietnam remain cumbersome and time-consuming,” Gisz stated.

Frasers Law Company is an independent commercial law firm in Vietnam and has been recognised as a top tier law firm by leading independent guides such as The Legal 500 and Asia Law.

Frasers is ranked by The Legal 500 in 13 different practice areas in Vietnam including banking and finance, capital markets, corporate and M&A, data protection, dispute resolution and many more. No other law firm in Vietnam has achieved better ranking results than this.

Frasers – together with its predecessor firm– has been operating in Vietnam since 1994 and is able to provide both international and Vietnamese legal advice within one unified firm. Frasers also has one of the largest teams of international and local lawyers in Vietnam.

Frasers Law Company will hold a webinar to celebrate the online launch of the Frasers Vietnam Mergers & Acquisitions Guide - Second Edition at 9am (Vietnam time) on Tuesday, May 24, 2022.

Apart from celebrating the online launch of the most scintillating read of 2022 for people interested in M&A transactions in Vietnam, the webinar will focus on key considerations that need to be taken into account when undertaking a successful M&A deal in Vietnam.

Please register via the Registration link no later than 12pm (Vietnam time) on Monday, May 23, 2022.