Profile
Nhi Phuong is a Partner of Ngo & Partners, with over 16 years of experience in legal counsel across Vietnam’s business environment. Her practice covers Banking and Debt Restructuring, Corporate & M&A, Real Estate, Licensing and Corporate Management, and Arbitration. She combines an understanding of local business culture, the workings of multinational corporations and Vietnam’s regulatory framework to deliver practical advice that helps clients manage risk and grow sustainably.
Over the years, Nhi has led and taken part in numerous complex transactions: advising international banks on retail banking operations, regulatory compliance and contract management; advising on the acquisition of the entire share capital of a Vietnamese finance company by a foreign investor, alongside M&A transactions in the healthcare, real estate and commercial sectors; representing leading Singaporean developers in acquiring mixed-use projects; and resolving disputes for major enterprises — including a shareholder matter in Singapore for one of Vietnam’s leading coffee producers, and debt recovery for a Japanese securities firm (*).
Before co-founding Ngo & Partners, Nhi practised at leading Singaporean and Korean law firms in Vietnam, and served as senior in-house counsel for global banks (such as Standard Chartered Bank and HSBC) in Vietnam.
Holding a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Economics and Law (2010), Nhi is a member of the Vietnam Bar Federation and the Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association. She works fluently in Vietnamese and English.
Her aim is to serve not merely as a legal adviser, but as a partner clients can rely on as they pursue sustainable business goals amid Vietnam’s international integration.
(*) Some clients were advised and represented at previous firms or organisations.
Highlight Works
- Advising the retail business of the leading international banks in Vietnam in various matters including product legal advice, drafting or localizing templates for use in the country, transactional advice, advice to internal stakeholders on the impact of legal and regulatory changes, and providing legal training.
- Advising the leading international banks in Vietnam relating to vendor contracts management, including vendor templates management to comply with Group internal policies and country requirements; reviewing and negotiating with vendors in both technology agreements, generally good and services agreements, etc., to secure vendor’s awareness and acknowledgment of the bank’s policies regarding anti-bribery and corruption, data privacy, prevention of tax evasion, etc.
- Advising legal issues to the international banks in Vietnam by working with relevant stakeholders to establish, implement, and oversee the long-range goals, strategies, plans, and policies of the bank, ensuring compliance with applicable laws and regulations whilst also optimizing the long-term business operations of the banks.
- Acting as Company Secretary of the leading international bank in Vietnam relating to monitoring corporate governance issues for compliance with the relevant laws.
- Advising the international banks in Vietnam relating to the developments in the law and advising and developing appropriate responses to such banks.
- Advising in the transaction of acquiring 100% capital by a foreign investor in a finance company established in Vietnam, including conducting due diligence, review of the capital transfer agreement, advising compliance and licensing issues.
- Advising on the full legal process for establishing an Eco-Industrial Park for a development project of up to 200 hectares in Dong Nai City, with an expected total investment of approximately USD 100 million;
- Advising on the comprehensive legal restructuring of legal affairs, investment portfolio and assets valued at up to approximately USD 50 million for the owner of one of Vietnam’s leading private rubber processing enterprises;
- Conducting due diligence over a medical company for a potential joint venture to establish an international clinic in Vietnam.
- Advising in various M&A transactions including conducting due diligence, drafting all transactional documentation, preparing all documentation for the application for licensing issues, and dealing with the competent authority for securing the issue of license, approval, and permits, etc.
- Advising the Singapore developers in Vietnam in drafting and preparing conveyancing templates for their residential projects.
- Advising in a transaction for one of the biggest Singapore developers in Vietnam in the transfer of a mixed-used development project from a local property developer. Assisting the client in negotiating project transfer agreements and preparing the licensing procedure after execution.
- Advised the establishment and operations of May Social Company which was founded to run charity programs on children, life, and the environment; and
- Advised the Mobile Science Lab Experience Program - a social program for elementary and secondary school students, implemented in Vietnam by May Social Company in collaboration with a leading Multi-National Pharmaceutical Corporation.
- Advising Saigon Port Coal Company in resolving a dispute against Indonesian Sellers arising from a Coal Sale and Purchase Contract with the disputed value at USD 8 million, administered under the SIAC Rules;
- Joining a part of the Singapore team advising the largest coffee processing company in Vietnam in settling the internal dispute between the shareholders in a dispute initiated in Singapore.
- Advising one of the biggest securities companies in Japan in a debt collection in Vietnam including drafting the letter of demand and arranging meetings with parties for settlement.
- Advising Capital Securities Corporation (Taiwan) in a settlement dispute with Vietnamese shareholders at a local securities firm. The dispute was successfully settled by the parties.