YKVN Lawyers: Legal Connection between Vietnamese and Singapore Businesses

As Vietnam’s economy becomes increasingly integrated into the economy of Southeast Asia, Asia and indeed the global economy, there will be more and more cross-border transactions and matters requiring the services of knowledgeable and experienced legal advisors. This is not only consistent with international market customs and practices, it is also sound risk management and a good business practice that will help businesses achieve their objectives in a given transaction or matter more quickly and efficiently.

 

In our experience, this need is very clearly felt by Vietnamese companies doing business with foreign partners in Vietnam and Vietnamese companies doing business overseas. In addition to advising Vietnamese businesses in transaction with foreign investors, and foreign investors in transactions and matters in Vietnam, we have worked with leading Vietnamese companies in transactions and matters related to Korea, Mongolia, Central Asia, the Middle East, Russia, Africa, Latin America and the US.

 

The Vietnamese legal market has developed at a very rapid pace over the last 20 years. But the Vietnamese economy has developed at an even faster pace. We think that there are still a lot of opportunities for us, as well as other law firms. 

 

YKVN is a widely recognized market leader in Vietnam due to the breadth, depth, and sophistication of its practice, which ranges from path breaking capital markets and private equity transactions to precedent setting litigation and arbitration. So establishing an office in the financial centre of Southeast Asia is a natural step for us. We will be closer to many top clients who maintain headquarters in Singapore, better able to serve Vietnamese clients with SGX (Singapore Stock Exchange) listings and outbound acquisitions, and well-positioned to assist in the resolution of Vietnam related commercial disputes through arbitration in Singapore, which is emerging as the forum of choice for such disputes.

 

Actually, the response from our clients has been extremely encouraging and the level of activities has, frankly, far exceeded our expectations. On the corporate side, we do a lot of Vietnam investment work with Mapletree, the major Singapore property, logistics and fund management group, and our working relationship with the client has been enhanced by the Singapore office. Being in Singapore has also allowed us to work more closely with global financial institutions like Temasek, Credit Suisse, Standard Chartered Bank and Barclays in major cross-border capital markets or mergers & acquisitions transactions. We also worked with Vietcombank on a bank merger & acquisition transaction involving one of its joint venture banks in Vietnam and with the Petrovietnam group in overseas acquisitions. On the dispute resolution side, we have been involved with four Singapore International Chamber of Commerce Arbitrations this year where one of the parties was a Vietnamese entity. We have been busy!

 

We now have two partners and one associate assigned to the Singapore office and will be looking to add two more lawyers in 2012. Looking back over the first year, it is clear that the Singapore office has enhanced our ability to serve clients inside and outside of Vietnam.

 

In my opinion, there is unlimited potential for the development of the Vietnam – Singapore relationship. Singapore is already a major investor in Vietnam in multiple sectors of the Vietnamese economy including logistics, industrial parks, real estate development, tourism and banking. The truth is that Singapore is a major global investor with the best track record of any country in the world of having gone from a developing or emerging market economy to a first world economy in the short span of 40 years. So there is a lot that Singapore companies can contribute to the economic development of Vietnam through their investments and the know-how and experience they will bring to the management of those investments. As the financial centre of Southeast Asia, Singapore will also be a magnet for Vietnamese companies who, like YKVN, feel that their path to development leads to having a foothold in the region’s financial centre. Finally, on a people-to-people, cultural and educational level, there is an increasing level of interaction, thanks in no small part to the absence of travel restrictions. This means that the two countries can only grow closer in the future.

 

We plan to focus on strengthening our international platform and developing our capabilities in order to maximize the potential of the platform. We probably will look to add more Singapore, US, UK, or Australia qualified lawyers.

 

We have a strong corporate culture, in part because the leaders of the firm are a close-knit group of individuals who have known and worked with each other for a long time, in some cases, close to 20 years. But we are also an extremely diverse group of lawyers. One of our partners is a National Assembly deputy and a leader of the profession. Most of the partners are recognized in Vietnam and regionally as leaders of the profession and excellent lawyers. Our partners were educated in Vietnam, Russia, Germany, the UK, Australia and the US. Most importantly, we all cherish our profession and are dedicated to maintaining the highest professional standards. So our diversity and our professional dedication are probably the two key drivers in the development of our corporate culture and explain why the firm has achieved its current standing in the market in a little over ten short years.