Duyen Ha Vo

Chairperson

Ho Chi Minh City Office

Professional Summary

Duyen is recommended as a Leading Lawyer in Vietnam by IFLR1000 and Legal 500 in M&A Practice, Energy & Infrastructure Practice and Finance Practice, and as an Elite Practitioner by Asialaw in Banking and Finance, Corporate and M&A.

Duyen is active in advising multinational companies in the financial service sectors, energy, infrastructure, fintech and real estate sectors.

She advises foreign investors, issuers, financial institutions and private equity funds in relation to cross-border M&A transactions, bond investment and debt instruments in private and public companies in Vietnam.

She advises multinational banks and fintech companies in financing transactions, debt instruments, finance regulatory matters, derivatives, project financing, and M&A transactions.

Client feedback from IFLR1000 33rd Edition (2022/23):

“With her intimate knowledge of our business and in-depth legal knowledge, she provides valuable advice and supports our team to have a better understanding of the transaction and pros and cons of each option, which supports us in making decisions. She always comes up with a workable and practical solution, not just a legal issue.”

Client’s remark about Duyen’s Corporate/M&A practice from Legal 500 2022 Edition:

“Her involvement in the negotiations helped the commercial team to better understand the overall situation and find an amicable solution.”

Recent international awards:

Awarded in the 2024 Asialaw Awards as Vietnam Female Lawyer of the Year.

Named in the 2021 ALB Asia Top 15 Female Lawyers honouring “leading women lawyers in Asia who have continuously made their mark in the market”.

Named in the 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 IFLR1000 Women Leaders, the IFLR1000 annual list recognizing 300 leading female transaction lawyers with “impressive track record” in the world, based on experience and feedback from clients and peers.

Named in the 2020 and 2021 IFLR Asia Best Lawyers, which presents Asia’s top lawyers according to market data, peer reviews and client feedback.

Named a 2020 Asialaw Client Service Excellence Outstanding Lawyer, the Asialaw results of its annual list of highest rated lawyers in a survey of clients in Asia.

Awarded a 2020 In-house Community Commended External Counsel of the Year, the Asian-mena Counsel In-house Community recognition based entirely on the votes and testimonials of in-house counsels in Asia.

Notable Engagements

M&A and Equity Investments

Advised the founding shareholders in the US$240 million sale of 100% equity stake in Thinh Phat Cables and Dovina to Stark Corporation
Advised Mondelez International in its US$460 million acquisition of the food business of listed company Kinh Do Corporation
Advised SCG Packaging, a subsidiary of Siam Cement Group, in the acquisition of 70% equity stake in Duy Tan Plastics Group, Vietnam’s leading producer of rigid plastic packaging products
Advised Nawaplastic Industries in the US$ 100 million acquisition of shares in Binh Minh Plastic in sovereign fund SCIC’s divestment
Advised Warburg Pincus in the US$200 million joint venture with Becamex IDC to develop industrial and logistic properties in Vietnam
Advised a consortium of foreign investors in acquiring a controlling equity interest in South Hoi An Project, which is a US$4 billion integrated project of casino, hotels and residential units in Vietnam
Advised Golden Springs Group in the US$334 million sale of 75% of the equity stake in Gold Coin Management Holdings Ltd to Philippines conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures
Advised Asahi Glass Co (AGC) in the acquisition of all equity interests of Petronas Chemicals in Phu My Plastic and Chemicals

Energy and Infrastructure

Advised SCG Chemicals in a US$126 million sequence of transactions to buy out 25% and 29% of the equity stakes in Long Son Petrochemicals Company Limited (LSP) from Qatar Petroleum and PetroVietnam respectively to become the sole owner of the US$5.4 billion LSP petrochemicals complex, in the development and the financing of the project
Advised B.Grimm Power Public in an acquisition of a joint venture interest in a 420MW solar power project in Tay Ninh province, set to be the largest solar power plant in Southeast Asia and in the ADB financing of part of the project
Advised CPECC in its joint venture acquisition of Jaks Hai Duong BOT Power Project, a US$1.87 billion coal-fired power plant in Vietnam
Advised JBIC as arranger and the international lenders in the US$1.767 billion financing of 2×600 MW Coal-fired Vung Ang 2 Power Project on a BOT basis in Vietnam
Advised JBIC and international lenders in the financing of Phu My 2.2 BOT Power Project
Advised MetroPac Water Investments Corporation in a number of acquisitions of water treatment projects in Vietnam, including the acquisition of 49% of equity stakes in Tuan Loc Water Resources, which owns a number of water projects in Vietnam
Advised Sumitomo Corporation as the primary contractor in relation to Ben Thanh – Suoi Tien Metro Line 1 Project

Finance and Capital Markets

Advised Credit Suisse and JP Morgan, as global coordinators and managers, in a chain of US$390 million concurrent equity placement and convertible bond offering by a leading Vietnamese real estate developer, No Va Land Investment Group Corporation, under Reg S and Rule 144A, for a listing on the Singapore Exchange, which is the first ever international concurrent equity placement and convertible bond offering in Vietnam
Advised Bank of Tokyo – Mitsubishi UFJ in a US$510 million syndicated Nexi loan to finance La Son – Tuy Loan highway project connected to Da Nang
Advised international lessors and financial institutions in various financing and leasing of aircrafts for Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet
Advised ANZ, BNP Paribas, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Credit Agricole CIB, HSBC, as mandated lead arrangers in the US$350 million Reserve Based Lending Facility to Ophir Energy, secured against, among others, Chim Sao Field in Vietnam, which was awarded the “The Oil and Gas Deal of the Year” in 2018 by the Asset Triple A Infrastructure Deal Award
Advised BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole and Standard Chartered Bank as arrangers in the US$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
Advised HSBC in arranging a US$150 million secured financing transaction to finance the Celadon City Project in Ho Chi Minh City and a US$120 million secured financing transaction to finance Gamuda Land Residential Project in Ha Noi
Advised Deutsche Bank in the arrangement of a US$200 million secured loan facility to finance Vingroup’s urban development project in the South of Vietnam
Advised Hoang Anh Gia Lai as issuer, in the US$90 million international issue of bonds for listing on the Singapore Exchange, with Credit Suisse as underwriter

M&A in finance sector

Advised ANZ in the competitive offering and sale of its retail banking business in Vietnam, involving 125,000 customers and US$ 240 million in lending assets and US$ 600 million in deposits
Advised Bank of China (HK) in the US$151 million acquisition of the banking assets of Bank of China branch in Ho Chi Minh City
Advised VIB Bank in the purchase of the Vietnam banking assets from Commonwealth Bank of Australia
Advised Shinhan Card in the US$ 151 million acquisition of Prudential Vietnam Finance Company