Voting rights at the Member’s Council of a single-member limited liability company (Single LLC) in Vietnam

It is not clear whether voting rights of members of the Member’s Council of a Single LLC is based on (1) the amount of charter capital that such member represents, or (2) principle one person-one vote. Article 75.5 of the Enterprises 2014 provides that unless otherwise provided in the charter, each member of the Members’ Council of a Single LLC has one vote. This provision suggests that in the charter of the Single LLC, the owner of a Single LLC can allocate different voting rights to members of the Members’ Council who are usually the representatives of the owner in the Single LLC. The most common criteria is based on the amount of charter capital of the Single LLC represented by each member. The ability to allocate different voting rights to different members of a Single LLC is important since the owner of a Single LLC may have different shareholders who want to directly manage the Single LLC.

Is amendment to an Investment Registration Certificate (IRC) necessary when a foreign investor acquires a company in Vietnam

When a foreign investor incorporates a company in Vietnam, the foreign investor needs to (1) apply for an IRC for an investment project (the Project), and (2) apply for an Enterprise Registration Certificate for the project company which implements the investment project (Project Co). In addition to the investment project, the IRC usually records details of the foreign investor (the original investor) and the Project Co.

When a new foreign investor acquires a Project Co by purchasing equity interest from the original investor, the new foreign investor does not need to obtain an IRC. Instead, the new foreign investor needs to register the proposed acquisition in accordance with a separate procedure under the Investment Law. To avoid duplicating licensing procedures, Article 46.4 of Decree 118/2015 provides that when a foreign investor acquires a Project Co, the Project Co is not required to amend the IRC issued to such Project Co before the time of acquisition. While Article 46.4 of Decree 118/2015 provides for a clear legal ground for not amending the IRC in this context, it does not sit well with other provisions of the Investment Law 2014. This is because being the owner of the Project Co is not necessarily equal to being the owner/investor of the Project. An IRC is defined as a document or a digital copy recording the registration information of the investor concerning an investment project. The content of an IRC includes, among others, name and address of the investor of the project. Accordingly, even if new foreign investor is the owner of the Project Co, if the IRC still records the information of the original investor as the investor of the Project, the original investor could theoretically claim to have the rights (and obligations) over the Project as provided by law.

This post is contributed by Le Thanh Nhat, a trainee at Venture North Law.

More Measures For Enforcement Of A Share Mortgage For A Project Company In Vietnam

For a project financing or limited recourse financing in Vietnam, a mortgage over shares (or equity capital) of the project company usually forms part of the security package due to the ease of creating and perfecting a mortgage over shares. That said, when an enforcement event occurs and if the borrower or the project company does not cooperate, the lenders (usually foreign lenders), who wish to immediately taking over the mortgaged shares, may find it difficult to actually enforce the mortgage due to the need to complete various licensing procedures for the sale or transfer of the mortgaged shares.

Thanks to the flexibility offered by the Enterprises Law 2014 and the Investment Law 2014, lenders may now consider taking some extra measures to increase their ability to enforce the mortgaged over shares of a project company in Vietnam. In particular,

Conversion of preference shares into ordinary shares in a Vietnamese joint stock company

The Enterprise Law 2014 does not have specific provisions on alteration of rights attached to a class of shares other than ordinary shares. Since the Shareholder Meeting has the right to create a class of shares, logically, an amendment to class rights should also be approved by the Shareholder Meeting. Under Article 113.6 of the Enterprise Law 2014,

·        ordinary shares may not be “converted” (chuyển đổi) into preference shares; and

·        preference shares may be converted into ordinary shares pursuant to a resolution of the Shareholder Meeting.

There is no definition of “conversion” in the context of Article 113.6. However, a conversion from one class of shares into another class of shares would likely result in the change of rights attached to the shares being converted. Therefore, arguably conversion of shares could qualify as an alteration of class rights. Each share in the charter capital of a JSC has the same par value. Therefore, logically, one preference share should be converted into one ordinary share only. If one preference share is not converted into one ordinary share then the charter capital of a JSC will be increased or reduced which may not be clearly permitted by law.