Baker McKenzie advised Vietnam’s Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank, (MB Bank) on numerous offshore financing transactions in the first half of 2026, totalling USD550 million.
The financings included both syndicated and bilateral facilities, involving a broad range of international lenders from Asia, Europe and the United States. Participating institutions included Standard Chartered, Wells Fargo Bank, Landesbank Baden-Württemberg and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation.
The proceeds were used to support MB Bank’s credit expansion, in line with Vietnamese laws and regulations.
A multi-jurisdictional team advised MB Bank that was led by Baker McKenzie Vietnam managing partner Oanh Nguyen, special counsel Thai Ninh (Daniel) Ngo and principal Emmanuel Hadjidakis from Baker McKenzie Wong & Leow in Singapore.
“We advised MB [Bank] on the Vietnamese law aspects of the transactions, with a particular focus on reviewing the facility agreements and fee letters to ensure compliance with applicable Vietnamese laws and regulations, while seeking to align the documentation with prevailing market standards,” Nguyen told Asia Business Law Journal.
“This included advising on the regulatory requirements applicable to offshore borrowings by a Vietnamese credit institution, the registration of offshore loans with the State Bank of Vietnam and relevant APLMA standards and practices.”
She said the firm’s role extended beyond regulatory and compliance matters to transactional advice.
“Our team advised MB [Bank] on the transactional aspects of the financing, including the review and negotiation of key commercial terms, assessment of key risk allocation and co-ordination across the financing documentation to help ensure a consistent and commercially workable outcome for MB across all facilities,” Nguyen said.
Nguyen said a key feature of the transactions was the scale and diversity of the financing structures and the international lender base involved.
“The successful completion of these facilities within a short timeframe demonstrates MB’s ability to access a broad international lender base across multiple financing structures,” she said.
“A key focus was ensuring consistency across multiple financing arrangements, each involving different documentation and stakeholders, while remaining compliant with the requirements of Vietnamese law. Reviewing and aligning several sets of documents in parallel within a compressed timeframe was critical to supporting the smooth registration and drawdown of the facilities.”
