Ho Chi Minh City / Miami, 15 September 2021 – Hogan Lovells has announced that partner Gaston Fernandez will join its One South East Asia practice as head of the firm’s Vietnam offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in October.
Gaston is relocating from the Hogan Lovells Miami office, where he has been based for the last 10 years, with frequent travel to Asia for business. Prior to this he was based in the firm’s Beijing office for four years, and he is fluent in Mandarin and Spanish. His practice covers a wide range of finance, corporate and commercial matters, particularly in emerging markets, with a focus on infrastructure and energy projects. His clients include Latin American national governments, multinational corporations as well as state-owned entities in the petrochemical, power generation, transportation, and mining industries.
James Doyle, Global Head of the Corporate & Finance practice at Hogan Lovells, said: “This is an exciting opportunity for our corporate and finance practice in the APAC region and for Gaston. Vietnam remains a key market for our international clients and a gateway to ASEAN international trade. Gaston’s presence on the ground in Vietnam will complement our offering and his experience both in the U.S. and Greater China will serve as a natural bridge to service the needs of this growing group of investors in the Vietnam market. This move also represents continued investment into the region following the recruitment of Jonathan Leitch (Hong Kong), Don Williams, Tony Mou and Cheung Xu (Shanghai), Nick Williams and Charlie Clayton-Payne (both Singapore), and Mandi Jacobson (Sydney) in 2020, and more recently Mochamad Kasmali (Jakarta) and Bis Chatterjee (Singapore) in 2021.”
Gaston added: “Hogan Lovells’ investment and commitment to grow its South East Asia practice will allow me to broaden my practice and to take advantage of the growing opportunities in Vietnam, which has been one of the fastest growing markets in the region over the past decade. I am excited to be returning to the Asia Pacific region to work with my long-time colleagues there to take on this new challenge and to increase the firm’s presence and profile in the region.”
Gaston replaces partner Jeff Olson who has left the firm to join client NTT Data in the U.S.
