Herbert Smith Freehills advises consortium on US$1.5 billion bid to build an airport terminal in Vietnam

Leading international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills has advised the Vietur consortium on its successful tender to build the terminal building at Long Thanh, Vietnam's newest international airport. 

The firm assisted the consortium, led by Turkish contractor IC İçtaş İnşaat and including Vietnam's Ricons, Newtecons,Vinaconex and Construction Corporation No.1, in negotiating and executing of the US$1.5 billion agreement with The Airports Corporation of Vietnam.

Located outside of Ho Chi Minh City, the US$16 billion Long Thanh International Airport is one of Vietnam's most prestigious infrastructure projects. When fully operational, Long Thanh is expected to serve more than 100 million passengers annually.

Paris partner Olga Melo Zanelli said, " I am pleased to see that our relationship with IC İçtaş İnşaat has continued to grow through the years. Our previous work for them includes advising on the US$4 billion construction of Akkuyu, the biggest nuclear power plant in Turkey." 

Vietnam is an important part of the firm's energy and infrastructure business strategy with Vietnam-focussed partners based in Singapore, Hong Kong and Mainland China. Active projects include transactions concerning decarbonisation of energy and resources in Asia, as well as work on renewables (including solar, wind and hydro) and LNG. The team also has extensive experience advising across the infrastructure sector as seen in the Vietur transaction.

"Long Thanh International Airport is a landmark project for the transport and aviation sector in Vietnam. We were very pleased to have supported Vietur on this transaction, which was completed under very challenging timelines and circumstances," said Adrian Wong, director at Prolegis LLC, Herbert Smith Freehills' formal law alliance in Singapore.

"This achievement is a testament to not just our depth and breadth of experience on complex construction projects in the region but also to our ability to undertake work and collaborate across offices and time zones."

Ms. Zanelli led the team from Paris, supported by Mr. Wong in Singapore. Other team members included of counsel Thomas Herman, senior associate Clémence Descoutures and associate Camille Heissat.