Mergers and Acquisitions in Vietnam - Preview

V ietnam B riefing · Issue 40 · December 2019 2 Introduction ALBERTO VETTORETTI Partner Dezan Shira & Associates Seven years since joining the World Trade Organization (WTO), Vietnam remains committed to integrating further into the world economy. Vietnam continues to attract record foreign direct investment (FDI) and iswelcome to foreign investors andvisitors alike.Thegovernment is steadfast in itspursuitofbusinessreformsandhasimprovedinrankingontheWorldBank'sDoingBusinessreport. YetVietnam is still catchingup toChina’s infrastructure, transport networks, suppliers, rawmaterials, and supply chain network. It is in this context that mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have become an increasingly popular investment route. With an M&A, investors can enjoy preexisting access to customers,suppliers,anddistributionchannels.AnM&Acanhelpreduce investmentcost,helpweak businesses and allow new entities to grow and gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. In the first sixmonths of 2019,VietnamrecordedUS$1.9 billion inM&Adeal value. In 2018,Vietnam recorded US$7.64 billion of M&A transactions, up 41.4 percent from 2017. Despite a slowdown in global trade and even ASEAN countries experiencing a decline in M&A activity, Vietnam recorded the second highest value of M&A deals. Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan dominated Vietnam’s M&A market in 2018. With Vietnam’s strong FDI growth, this trend is likely to continue into 2020. In this issue of Vietnam Briefingmagazine, we look at the legal foundation for M&As including the basic laws that govern M&A activity. We then look at the legal and financial aspects of the M&A process including theduediligenceprocess that goes into anM&A.We concludewith stepby step procedures for M&As and post-merger considerations. We hope this magazine will empower you to make an informed decision if choosing the M&A route in Vietnam. Best regards, Alberto Vettoretti Credits Publisher / Chris Devonshire-Ellis Managing Editor / Adam Pitman Editor / Pritesh Samuel Design / Aparajita Zadoo Reference Vietnam Briefing and related titles are produced by Asia Briefing Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Dezan Shira Group. Content is provided by Dezan Shira & Associates. No liability may be accepted for any of the contents of this publication. Readers are strongly advised to seek professional advice when actively looking to implement suggestions made within this publication. For queries regarding the content of this magazine, please contact: editor@asiabriefing.com All materials and contents © 2019 Asia Briefing Ltd. Asia Briefing Ltd. Unit 507, 5/F, Chinachem Golden Plaza, 77 Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui East Kowloon, Hong Kong. www.asiabriefing.com www.dezshira.com www.aseanbriefing.com www.india-briefing.com www.vietnam-briefing.com www.silkroadbriefing.com www.china-briefing.com www.russia-briefing.com