Profile details
About Tony Foster
Having lived and practised in Hanoi since he opened the firm’s offices in 1994, Tony has unparalleled knowledge and experience of business life in Vietnam.
Tony helps clients navigate the issues they face when doing business in the country, how to interpret the often vague Vietnamese legislation, and how to work effectively with the regulators.
He is responsible for Freshfields’ team of Vietnamese and foreign lawyers – a combination of legal and practical knowledge that has helped foreign clients in landmark deals in Vietnam for more than 26 years.
Tony is the managing partner of our offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
He speaks English and French.
Recent work
- Advising Metro Group on the €655m sale of its wholesale business in Vietnam to TCC Holdings.
- Advising Warburg Pincus on the restructuring of, and the investment into, the retail properties of Vingroup, the largest real estate operator in Vietnam.
- Advising Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ on its $743m acquisition of a strategic stake in VietinBank upon the equitisation of this state-owned commercial bank.
- Advising a pharmaceutical company on the operation and restructuring of its joint ventures in Vietnam and on the acquisition of all of the assets of a Vietnamese company.
- Advising HSBC Insurance on: all aspects of the acquisition of a strategic interest in Bao Viet Insurance Corporation from the Vietnam Ministry of Finance, the first equitisation of a state-owned company with a foreign strategic investor; the $400m divestment of its investment to Sumitomo Life.
Qualifications
Education
- Scholar at Winchester College, Hampshire, UK
- Exhibitioner at St John's College, Cambridge, UK (law, 1979)
- University of California, US (second degree in law (JD), magna cum laude, 1984)
Professional qualifications
- Registered as a foreign legal practitioner with the Vietnamese Ministry of Justice
Professional memberships
- State Bar of California
- Board member of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi, 1995-present
- Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi, 2002-2003
- Member of the Executive Committee and Chairman of the Infrastructure Committee of the Vietnam Business Forum