Singapore’s RHTLaw Taylor Wessing has announced that it will be formally merging with Vietnam’s PBC Partners, a firm it has had an alliance with since 2014 as a part of its ASEAN Plus regional network.

The new entity will be known as RHTLaw Taylor Wessing Vietnam. A release from the firm said the merger is in line with the ASEAN’s AEC Blueprint 2025, which aims to bring about a common market in the region by that year.

The firm will have 25 lawyers in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, and specialise in practice areas like foreign direct investment, mergers and acquisition and real estate.

PBC’s erstwhile managing partner Tran Thanh Hai and senior partner Benjamin Yap will both continue in their roles at RHTLaw Taylor Wessing Vietnam. Later this year, the partners from the Singapore office will also be seconded to Vietnam and vice versa. 

RHTLaw Taylor Wessing’s ASEAN Plus group currently counts Indonesia’s Hanafiah Ponggawa and Partners and South Korea’s DR & AJU among its members.