Competition and Anti-trust

Competition law in Vietnam is still in its comparatively early stages of development with very few cases of successful enforcement action undertaken by the Vietnam Competition Authority since the Law on Competition came into force. There is limited guidance provided on antitrust regulations and competition restrictions, giving way to unfair competition practices and difficulties for market players. The Vietnam Competition Authority is intent on an increased focus on protecting consumer interests and preventing practices of unfair competition, and Frasers’ Competition & Antitrust team guides clients on independent competition law matters and advises clients on competition law issues as they relate to specific transactions. 

A sampling of our highlight matters in this area includes:

• Acted as Vietnam counsel to one of Australia's largest listed building materials companies in relation to a successful merger control notification in Vietnam, arising from its entry into a master Asia Pacific joint venture with a major European building materials company.
• Provided one of the world's largest, UK-listed FMCG companies with comprehensive Vietnam competition law advice and assistance in connection with its participation as a strategic investor and auction bidder in the equitisation of one of Vietnam's leading and most prestigious FMCG product manufacturing and distribution State-owned enterprises.
• Acting for a leading export import commercial bank of Vietnam in relation to the restructuring plans and implementation in order to avoid anti-trust issues as flagged by the State Bank of Vietnam.
• Acting for a global beverage company based in Japan to deal with anti-trust issues in Vietnam (by way of obtaining anti-trust clearance) when acquiring (on an offshore basis) the Vietnamese business from a global beverage company.
• Acting for a Japanese corporation on its acquisition of a stake in a major foreign-invested beverage company, which involved careful consideration of Vietnam’s Competition Law, as well as various discussions and liaisons with the Vietnam Competition Authority in order to prepare and submit a dossier to the Vietnam Competition Authority with respect to notification of a potential economic concentration.
• Acting as legal advisor for a large manufacturer in Japan in relation to the proposed acquisition of shares of a Vietnam-listed joint stock company. Careful consideration of Vietnam’s Competition Law was required to ensure the proposed acquisition would neither fall within the realm of economic concentration cases prohibited by the Law on Competition of Vietnam nor be subject to any notification procedures with the Vietnam Competition Authority.