Ngu Truong founded Vilasia after more than 15 years of professional experience spanning Vietnam, the United States, and Japan, combining academic depth with hands-on transactional practice. He is widely known in Vietnam for his work on M&A law and practice, particularly through his writing and long-standing thought leadership.
A prolific author, Ngu published “M&A Essentials: Strategies, Contracts & Disputes” in 2018, a practical guide widely used by transactional lawyers and investment bankers in Vietnam. Together with his journal articles, the book has contributed to legal reform discussions and helped shape more pragmatic approaches to M&A practice in the market.
Ngu founded Vilasia with a clear vision: to build a firm that is hands-on, commercially sharp, and deeply involved in getting deals done. In its first few years, Vilasia has advised on significant transactional work for clients such as Heineken, ESR Group, Amata, and Vietcetera, and has also acted for international law firms on Vietnam-related matters.
Vilasia is a boutique law firm specialising in M&A, startup fundraising, and sophisticated corporate and finance transactions. The firm has grown rapidly in both team size and deal flow, earning a reputation for responsiveness, practicality, and execution-focused advice. By integrating modern technology with practical legal experience, Vilasia assists clients effectively, efficiently, and economically.
Ngu is also among the early Vietnamese legal practitioners with internationally trained expertise in competition and antitrust aspects of M&A transactions. He once pursued PhD (SJD) research at Pennsylvania State University focusing on antitrust and merger control in M&A transactions, before stepping away to focus on his legal practice. This background gives him a structured and advanced approach to competition risk—an area that has become increasingly important under Vietnam’s evolving merger control regime. Vilasia has assisted clients including Novaland, Amata, CP Group, Banpu Energy, and international law firms on merger filings across a wide range of sectors.
Ngu began his legal career at a leading Korean law firm. He later spent nearly a decade at Japan’s largest law firm, working closely with Japanese and multinational clients on complex Vietnam-related transactions. For a brief period, he served as an equity partner at a Vietnamese law firm, before founding Vilasia at the age of 38.
Ngu has contributed to international legal scholarship as well. He co-authored two chapters in Samuel C. Thompson’s “The Deal Lawyer’s Weapons in the War on COVID-19” (PLI, 2020), addressing pandemic-related impacts on M&A agreements and bankruptcy issues, and later contributed to Thompson’s “Corporate Valuation in M&A” (PLI, 2023).
