Bui Thanh Tien

Practice Areas

Tien has been with Freshfields' Vietnam offices since 2002 and is the first Vietnamese lawyer ever elected to the Freshfields partnership. He is widely recognized as a top-tier corporate and finance lawyer in Vietnam.

Tien spends substantial time assisting private capital investors and multinational companies with their investments and divestments in Vietnam. As the lead lawyer for Freshfields Vietnam, Tien has advised on some of the most high-profile transactions and the most complex and innovative structures in the country. He also has extensive experience in the banking and finance sector, representing clients from around the world in various matters, including corporate financing, project and asset financings, and restructurings.

Tien has established a reputation among his clients as an effective and commercially minded lawyer who represents their best interests. Fluent in both Vietnamese and English, Tien is known for his ability to communicate complex legal issues clearly to his clients and counterparties.

He is the author or co-author of many publications, including “Vietnam Corporate Acquisitions and Mergers,” a book published by Wolters Kluwer, now in its seventh edition; the Vietnam chapter of “Restructuring and Insolvency 2023,” published by Panoramic/Getting the Deal Through; the Vietnam chapter of “International Project Finance and PPPs – A Legal Guide to Key Growth Markets,” published by Wolters Kluwer Law & Business; and the Vietnam chapter of “Arbitration in Asia,” published by Juris Publishing.

Professional Memberships

- Member of American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam

- Member of European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam

Clients

• A global investment fund on their investment in a platform holding a portfolio of logistics and industrial assets in industrial parks across Vietnam.

• A leading global alternative asset manager on its investments in K-12 schools in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

• An investment company on its acquisitions of shares in a company listed on the HOSE via a public tender offering and off-band transactions.

• A major investor on its US$350 million convertible bond issued by a major Vietnamese industrial, automotive, and real estate corporation.

• A major private equity firm on the investment in Bach Hoa Xanh, a leading mini-supermarket chain with nearly 2,000 outlets primarily in Ho Chi Minh City and southern provinces.

• Investors on their proposed investments in private universities in Vietnam.

• International investors on their US$250 million investment by way of convertible bonds and non-convertible warrant-linked bonds issued by one of the leading public property development companies in Vietnam.

• The lead investors and a leading US payment company on their investments in VNLife, a leading fintech digital payments company in Vietnam, in a series B funding round.

• A leading Vietnamese listed company on raising the foreign ownership cap to 100 percent, and subsequently structuring and executing the first-ever sale of a 100 percent listed company to a foreign investor via an auction process.

• A major private equity firm on the acquisition of 60% of Phuong Chau Trade and Investment JSC, the operator of the Phuong Chau-branded maternal and infant care hospitals in southern Vietnam.

• An Asia-focused healthcare private equity firm on its investment in FV Hospital, the leading Vietnamese tertiary healthcare provider, and its subsequent sale to Thomson Medical.

• A UK multinational school investor on its acquisition of international schools in Vietnam and the establishment of new schools in Hanoi.

• A major Vietnam-focused fund on its investment in and divestment from over 60 local companies in various industries in Vietnam.

• A global energy company on the sale of its entire interest in the Thang Long block in Vietnam to Bitexco Energy, a subsidiary of the Bitexco Group.

• An investment company on the acquisition of a US$1bn+ stake in one of Vietnam’s largest companies listed on the HOSE.

• A fast-growing Vietnamese e-commerce company on its fund-raising activities.

• A U.S. investment bank on the restructuring and further investment in a Vietnamese mobile money company.

• A multinational drink and brewing company on the bid for a US$5 billion stake in Saigon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Corporation.

• Developers on various aspects of two ongoing LNG-to-power projects in Vietnam.

• Sponsors on the US$1.9 billion financing of the 1200MW Mong Duong 2 BOT power project in Quang Ninh, Vietnam.

• Lenders on the financing and restructuring of two major port projects, each valued at over US$200 million, in Ba Ria Vung Tau and Quang Ninh, Vietnam.

• A multilateral development bank, development finance institutions, and other commercial lenders on various senior tranches of unsecured ESG financing of up to US$1.4bn to a large commercial bank.

• A U.S. development finance institution and a Japanese finance institution on their loan facilities to a commercial bank in Vietnam.

• One of the world’s largest traders of agricultural products on the Vietnamese law aspects of its successful corporate restructuring and complex cross-border refinancing transaction.

• A leading global private firm on the restructuring of one of the largest real estate group companies in Vietnam.

• A multinational company on the restructuring of its multibillion-dollar joint venture in Vietnam with a State-owned company.

Expert in these Jurisdictions

- Admitted to the Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association

Education