Vietnam competition law applies to vertical and/or offshore merger

In a report published by the Vietnam Competition Authority (VCA) in April 2015, the VCA confirms via its comments on the acquisition of Metro's business in Vietnam by a Thai corporation may be regarded as a vertical merger under Vietnamese law. This comment has provided more clarity on vertical merger under Vietnamese law. The VCA also confirmed that it has received a merger filing notice from Maersk, MSC and CMA CGM (P3) regarding a frame agreement to establish a joint operation venture (Network Centre – NC) in UK. Again this reported news also seems to confirm that Vietnam competition law may apply to offshore transaction.