An Hoang Ha

Practice Areas

An Hoang Ha, a Senior Associate in Freshfields Hanoi office, is a highly skilled Vietnamese lawyer.

Ha has almost 20 years of experience practising law with Freshfields and, before that, 5 years of practising law with a leading local law firm.

Ha is the most senior associate in Freshfields in Vietnam, the second-most senior lawyer in the firm’s Hanoi office and plays a key role on all of the Freshfields' highest profile transactions in the financial institution group sector in Vietnam.

He has focused for many years on corporate transactions in the financial sector and has been central to many of the acquisitions and divestments that have occurred in this sector. In particular, Ha has acted on some of the most sophisticated and high-profile M&A transactions in the Vietnamese banking and finance market.

Ha also has good knowledge of Vietnam Competition Law and heads Freshfields Vietnam’s anti-trust and competition law practice. Ha has successfully advised clients on numerous recent merger filing transactions and compliance trainings for multinational clients operating in Vietnam. He is co-author of the book entitled Merger Control in Vietnam, published by Getting the Deal Through in 2022.

In particular, Ha has successful experience in the following areas:

• acting for financial institutions on their investment in and divestment from Vietnamese commercial banks, finance companies, insurance companies and securities companies;

• acting for foreign investors on their investments in Vietnam, including investment in equitised state-owned companies;

• complex joint ventures, acquisitions transactions and corporate restructuring; and

• anti-trust review and merger filings in cross-border public and private M&A transactions.

He has helped clients of the firm successfully close numerous high-profile transactions with a sophisticated structure.

Ha speaks fluent English.

Professional Memberships

• Member of American Chamber of Commerce

• Member of the Capital Markets Group of the Vietnam Business Forum

Work Highlights

Ha’s recent experiences include advising:

• Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation on the strategic US$1.5 billion investment in Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank).

• Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group on the acquisition of a 49% stake in FE Credit – one of the largest consumer finance companies in Vietnam – for a reported consideration of over US$1.4 billion.

• Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation on the divestment its stake in Vietnam Export Import Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Eximbank).

• SMBC Nikko Securities on the divestment of its stake in Petrovietnam Securities Incorporated.

• BTMU on the US$743 million strategic investment in the Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank), one of the largest listed commercial banks in Vietnam.

• Mizuho Corporate Bank on the US$567 million acquisition of strategic interest in the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam (Vietcombank), one of the largest listed commercial banks in Vietnam.

• A US private equity investor on a US$370 million investment in shares of Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank) prior to Techcombank’s IPO.

• HSBC on the purchase of a 20% interest in Techcombank, the first bank acquisition where the foreign investor acquired 20% of shares in a Vietnamese domestic bank, and the subsequent divestment of its investment in this bank.

• An Asian multinational telecommunication company on its investment in one of the largest telecom companies in Vietnam.

• Metro Group on the sale of its Cash & Carry wholesale operations in Vietnam.

• HSBC Insurance on its strategic investment in and divestment from Bao Viet Insurance, Vietnam’s leading state-owned insurance company.

• Hewlett-Packard International on all aspects of its restructuring of its businesses in Vietnam which is dictated by the global restructuring.

• Korean Air on the Vietnamese merger filing aspect of the US$1.3 billion merger between Korean Air and Asiana.

Education