Asialaw Profiles
The Guide to the legal markets of the Asia-Pacific

The practice at Frasers Law Company is “innovative in that it thinks of different options and different solutions”, says one client. “Quite a diversified team that is not bound by the black letter of the law but integrates active advice with commercial sense and risk assessment,” adds another client.

The banking team successfully advised International Finance Corporation on a complex matter involving numerous parties who were acting for the borrower and guarantors in an offshore loan facility and security agreements. This was in relation to a multi-million dollar financing to Theodore Alexander HCMC, a foreign wholly owned company in Vietnam.

In another high profile matter, the team advised the largest investment fund manager in Vietnam on a deal involving a closed-end Cayman Islands-exempt limited partnership that its major client had previously established and sponsored.

The M&A practice at Frasers Law Company acts for a large number of clients, the majority of which are major local and international investors. The firm has gained the respect of peers for the completion of some of the largest M&A transactions in Vietnam.

The firm’s team represented Nippon Steel Company (NSC), one of the world’s largest producers of steel and steel products, on the establishment of a US$33 million welded steel spiral pipe joint venture in Vietnam. This transaction was extremely complicated as the team had to advise NSC through certain complex competition and antitrust issues related to the project.

The strong year concluded with the firm advising a client in its proposed acquisition of shares in a Vietnamese household and personal care company, which is engaged in importation, manufacturing, distributions and retail sales activities.

Frasers Law Company

Frasers Law’s construction practice frequently advises numerous multinational companies. In this practice area, the firm’s go-to lawyers are Nguyen Viet Ha, Phung Thi Thanh Thao and foreign counsel Justin Gisz.

Acting for a Japanese property developer, the firm was required to transfer loans granted to this real estate company. It provided strategic advice to this client, attended meetings to negotiate on the developer’s behalf, and assisted in the drafting of relevant documentation in order to protect the legal rights of the developer. Frasers has also recently advised another large property developer on its real estate development projects in Vietnam.

KhattarWong

Singaporean firm KhattarWong houses a team of experienced local and foreign lawyers in Vietnam. With strong relationships with various Vietnamese agencies, the firm is adept at working with Vietnamese legal and regulatory bodies. As a demonstration of its international capabilities, the firm advised YKK AP Singapore on the construction contract for the Time Square Project in Ho Chi Minh City.

LCT Lawyers

LCT Lawyers has long been defined by its real estate and infrastructure practice, gaining much of its initial momentum through participation on significant development deals involving international investors and state enterprises. The highlight last year was acting for the Mapletree Viet Sin joint venture on a project to develop a commercial-residential complex in Ho Chi Minh City.

Leadco Legal Counsel

Leadco recently advised SHB-Vinacomin Insurance JSC, whose clients had acquired two floors of a large multi-use building. The firm helped SHB-Vinacomin understand the legal risks relating to the investment licence granted to the seller of the building. In another transaction, the firm advised a Vietnamese state-owned airline company on real estate asset management issues.

Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe

Orrick’s work in representing agencies of the Vietnamese government, international development banks and global private equity firms is increasingly coming to the attention of peers and clients alike. In November 2010, the US firm established an association with a Vietnam-based firm LVN & Associates to help strengthen its Vietnam presence.

Frasers’ practice is led by Mark Fraser and Pham Ba Linh, who are both very experienced in “advising on a wide range of energy and resource deals, especially major infrastructure projects involving oil and gas”, says one client. The firm prides itself for its work on unique and complex transactions that are often identified as legal ‘firsts’ in this still emerging jurisdiction.

The firm’s deal highlight over the last 12 months was providing corporate and commercial legal advice to a client that would like to sell its shares and then transfer the BOT power project to its partner in the company. This complex matter required working in conjunction with many state authorities and other stakeholders.