Largest partners promotion round in VILAF history announced

The new partners come from both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi offices and have been practicing law with VILAF for around 10 years.

Vo Ha Duyen, the firm’s chairperson, said, “We have seen a significant growth of revenues and client base over the last five years and are optimistic about the market potential for adding partners, especially in the focus market segments of VILAF’s strategies. The promoted lawyers have made amazing contributions to the firm’s business during their decade with VILAF and we believe it is the right time to create opportunities for them to be more deeply involved.”

Dang Duong Anh, Hanoi managing partner, added, “They all have grown up in and together with VILAF since they started their professional careers, and they certainly deserve the promotion. The promotion also affirms the rapid development of VILAF to maintain its leading position in the market and sends a message encouraging the continuous endeavors of all other young talented lawyers in the firm. VILAF will continue its pursuit to build a model of international law firm standards in Vietnam.”

VILAF’s new partners and counsel are:

Nguyen Anh Hao has practiced laws in VILAF’s Ho Chi Minh City office since 2006 and is an LL.M. graduate from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington DC. He has extensive experience in capital market, cross-border M&A, oil and gas, renewable energy, real estate and employment. He has advised multinational companies in various sectors, including the energy, real estate, and healthcare sectors.

Tran Anh Hien has practiced laws in VILAF’s Ho Chi Minh City office since 2008 and is an LL.M. graduate from Transnational Law and Business University in Korea. He has extensive experiences in litigation, arbitration, shipping, contention, and employment matters and has recently been recognized as future star by Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific 2018 in Commercial and Transactions.

Trinh Luong Ngoc has practiced laws in VILAF’s Ho Chi Minh City office since 2008 and is an LL.M. graduate and an MBA graduate from Deakin University and Central Queensland University, respectively. Ngoc has a wealth of experiences in corporate, cross-border M&A, tax, anti-trust, and capital markets matters. He advises companies in the infrastructure, energy, industrial, and consumer goods sectors. He is the Vietnam National Reporter for the Tax Committee of the International Bar Association.

Vu Le Trung has practiced laws in VILAF’s Hanoi office since 2009 and is an LL.M. graduate from Utrecht University in The Netherlands. He advises credit institutions and other clients in capital markets, banking and finance transactions and has extensive experiences in aviation and financial service sectors.

Nguyen Thi Kim Anh has practiced laws in VILAF’s Ho Chi Minh City office since 2006. She has extensive experiences in advising project sponsors in the infrastructure and energy sectors as well as financial institutions in banking, aviation, cross-border financing, and M&A transactions.

VILAF, a first-tier law firm in Vietnam (as ranked by IFLR1000, Legal500, Chambers, and Asialaw), is one of the largest business law firms in Vietnam with expertise in a wide-range of legal practice areas including corporate, M&A, banking and finance, infrastructure and energy, dispute resolution, aviation, capital markets, real estate, tax, anti-trust, and TMT, among others.

In 2018, VILAF has been awarded again as the Most Innovative National Firm of the Year in Vietnam by IFLR; and the Best M&A Law Firm of the Year and the Best M&A Law Firm of the Decade in Vietnam by Vietnam M&A Forum.

Also in last year, VILAF has closed a number of prominent cross-border deals in Vietnam, for example, advising Vingroup in an equity and debt investment of $1.3 billion by GIC Private Limited in Vingroup 2, advising SCG in the acquisition of two giant cement groups CSC and VCM (the target companies being valued at $400 million), advising Golden Springs Group in the $334 million sale of 75 per cent of the equity stake in Gold Coin Management Holdings Ltd. to the Philippines conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures.

VILAF also advised SCG Chemicals in a $126 million sequence of transactions to buy out 25 per cent and 29 per cent of the equity stakes in Long Son Petrochemicals Company Limited (LSP) from Qatar Petroleum and PetroVietnam respectively to become the sole owner of the $5.4 billion LSP petrochemicals complex 5, as well as advised Nawaplastic Industries in its $102 million acquisition of stake in listed company Binh Minh Plastics from sovereign fund SCIC 6, and advised Warburg Pincus in the $200 million joint venture with state-owned Becamex IDC and the related real estate assets transfer for the development of a logistic properties platform.

In financing segment, VILAF advised Marubeni and KEPCO as sponsors in the development and financing of 2x600 MW, $2.5 billion Nghi Son 2 BOT Thermal Power Plant project; advised BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole and Standard Chartered Bank as arrangers in the $125 million Reserve Based Lending Facility to SOCO International, secured against the Group’s producing assets in Vietnam, which include Te Giac Trang Field of Block 16-1, Ca Ngu Vang field of Block 9-2 and Blocks 125-126 offshore Vietnam; and advised Goshawk in the financing, leasing, and delivering of 4 Airbus A321 aircrafts to VietJet Air.

In capital markets, VILAF advised Vinhomes JSC and the major shareholders in relation to the 144A rule international placement and listing on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HSX) with the offer value of $2.2 billion, the largest listing ever recorded on HSX; advised Credit Suisse and JP Morgan as global coordinators and managers in the first ever international capital raise for a Vietnamese company in a concurrent equity placement and convertible bond offering by Novaland Group, a leading real estate developer in Vietnam, under Regulation S and Rule 144A. The concurrent offerings were also the first equity-linked bond issuance out of Vietnam since 2012. The bonds were officially listed on the Singapore Exchange. The total capital raise including the tap is $390 million.

VILAF also advised a subsidiary of Development Bank of Japan in its investment in the convertible bonds worth $50 million into Saigon Securities Incorporation (SSI), a top-tier securities company in Vietnam; advised Standard Chartered Bank as agent in the issue of VND2.33 trillion ($101.3 million) bonds by Hoang My Medical Corporation, guaranteed by Credit Guarantee and Investment Facility (CGIF), a trust fund of the Asian Development Bank, and advised CGIF as guarantor in the issue of VND1.135 trillion ($49.35 million) bonds by PAN Group, placed through Standard Chartered Bank.