YKVN Lawyers

MR. TRUONG NHAT QUANG
(MANAGING PARTNER)

MS. DIEP HOAI NAM
(PARTNER)

Ms. Diep Hoai Nam is a Partner of YKVN and manages the Hanoi office. Ms. Nam specializes in foreign investment, mergers and acquisitions, international trade, tax and litigation and arbitration.

Foreign Investment and Merger & Acquisition. Ms. Nam regularly advises multinationals and foreign invested companies operating in Vietnam on general corporate, trade and tax issues and Ms. Nam's representative clients include Procter & Gamble Vietnam, IBM, Exxon-Mobil, Matsushita Electric Corporation, and Toyota Motor Management Services (s) Pte Ltd. In particular, Ms. Nam has advised Procter & Gamble Vietnam since its establishment in 1998 and she regularly advises Procter & Gamble Vietnam on corporate matters and on enforcement actions in connection with infringements of Procter & Gamble's trademarks and patents in Vietnam. Ms. Nam recently advised Procter & Gamble Vietnam on matters related to unfair competition against a paper product and a soap product of Procter & Gamble in the Vietnamese market.

Ms. Nam is a specialist on M&A and corporate restructuring matters and she has worked on several landmark transactions in Vietnam. She participated in the preparation of the revised corporate documents for the highly publicized restructuring of Procter & Gamble Vietnam. Her recent representations include the representations of:

•	a major Korean chaebol which manufactures electronic and home appliances in the restructuring of its subsidiaries in Vietnam;
•	a Morgan Stanley investment fund in forming a joint venture and restructuring its investments in Vietnam;
•	Banpu Power Thailand Ltd. on a strategic stake sale in its Vietnamese captive power plant.

She conducted due diligence on numerous foreign owned companies in Vietnam in connection with the listing of their parent companies in the region and advised on all Vietnamese legal aspects required for such listing.

International Trade and Tax. Ms. Nam supervises YKVN lawyers in the trade area where they work closely with the international trade practice group of White & Case in Singapore to update international manufacturers, exporters and importers with latest trade regulations and import-export tariffs of Vietnam. She advises on Vietnamese law in regard to customs, export control, anti-dumping, countervailing duty and other trade-related issues. Ms. Nam is currently advising the Ministry of Industry on the development of the master plan for development of the automobile industry in Vietnam.

Real Estate and Infrastructure Financings. Ms. Nam has represented all the four State-owned Vietnamese banks on significant lending transactions. Recent representative transactions include:

•	Advising Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam and a syndicate of Vietnamese banks on a US$ 110 million financing of 108 MW Se San 3A Hydropower Plant;
•	Advising Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam and a syndicate of foreign bank branches on a US$ 20 million refinancing of the offshore loans of Nghe An Tate & Lyle -- the first syndicate of foreign bank branches and Vietnamese banks agented by a Vietnamese bank;
•	Advising Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam on a US$ 15 million financing and a subsequent US$ 4 million for the completion construction of Sheraton Hanoi Hotel and Towers, a 5-star international hotel in Hanoi; and
•	Advising Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam on the US$ 15 million financing of the United Nations International School (UNIS).

Litigation. Ms. Nam has represented clients in litigation and arbitration in respect of foreign investment and international commercial disputes. Ms. Nam is one of the two YKVN partners who led the Vietnamese team to advise Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters & Producers (VASEP) and its members in connection with an U.S. anti-dumping proceeding aimed at imposing anti-dumping duties on imports of catfish fillets from Vietnam. This is the first major trade controversy between Vietnam and the U.S. since the ratification of the U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement.

Ms. Nam is representing an international construction company in connection with disputes arising from the construction of a hotel and resort complex in Hanoi. Ms. Nam assisted Vietnam Railways in the dissolution of a container transportation joint venture between Vietnam Railways and a New Zealand company and in the settlement of disputes relating thereto. Ms. Nam was also the lead Vietnamese lawyer representing the Singapore branch of an international bank in a complex maritime dispute in Vietnam. Ms. Nam recently represented a U.S. oil company in a commercial dispute arising out of a distribution contract with a Vietnamese company.

Ms. Nam is named a "Recommended Individual" for "Company and Corporate Transactions" and for "Insurance" in Global Counsel 3000 (2002-2003) and Global Counsel 3000 (2003-2004)

Bar and Professional Associations

Hanoi Bar
Inter-Pacific Bar Association

Education

Hanoi National University, School of Law, LL.B., 1993
University of Sussex, England, Master of Environment, Development and Policy, 1995

Publications, Speeches and Other Experience

Co-authored the Vietnamese chapter of Mergers and Acquisitions 2004, International Financial Law Review, 2004.
Co-authored Dispute Resolution 2003/2004 - Global Counsel Handbook
Co-authored BOT Project Financing in Vietnam, Asia Law, 2003.
Co-authored US Anti-dumping Law: What Does the Vietnamese Seafood Industry Have to Know? 2003.
Lectured on principles of international business law at the College of Business Administration for corporate executive officers in Ho Chi Minh City, 2002.
Spoke on US anti-dumping law at the seminar organized by the Finance Institute under the Ministry of Finance in December 2003 and various other seminars.

Email: nam.diep@ykvn-law.com