Leading international law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy has advised Barclays and HSBC as joint lead managers and joint bookrunners on a US$250 million offering of 8.0% Notes Due 2017 by Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank), the country’s second-largest bank by market capitalization. A benchmark transaction for Vietnam, the deal is the first successfully completed international bond offering by a Vietnamese state-owned bank.
Hong Kong Securities partner Joshua M. Zimmerman led execution of the Rule 144A /Regulation S offering. He was supported by senior associate Andrew Yang and associates Michael Lu in Hong Kong and Jessica Zhou in New York.
“Our prior experience in Vietnam helped us navigate a complex domestic regulatory approval process for this deal,” said Mr Zimmerman, who had previously advised on Vietnam’s debut sovereign bond.
“We were able to leverage off our well established capital markets platform in Southeast Asia and our role for over 15 years as a pioneer for debt issuance throughout Asia,” added Anthony Root, who heads Milbank’s Asia Corporate practice.
Last year Milbank advised Hoang Anh Gia Lai Joint Stock Company, a Vietnamese conglomerate, on its US$90 million offering of 9.875% Senior Notes due 2016, the first corporate high-yield bond offering by a Vietnamese issuer.
