US Investors Continue Pouring Capital into Vietnam

Vietnam has become an attractive destination for US investors, up to now, the United States ranks 9th among countries and territories set up company in Vietnam with foreign direct investment.

Dow Chemical, Coca-Cola, Uber… are well-known US companies that deploying expansion investment projects in Vietnam. In addition, such names as Exxon Mobil, Cargill, General Electric, Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer… have become familiar, not only because of the huge capital brought into Vietnam, but also help to increase production capacity, contributing to Vietnam’s export growth.

Presently, thanks to the good relationship between the two countries, the investment and business environment in Vietnam has been improved. Many US businesses have signed large contracts with Vietnamese enterprises, concentrating on the fields such as oil and gas, information technology, animal feed and electronics.

According to information from the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (AmCham), many US businesses are working with the authorities to expand their projects in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, the big names that have long presence in Vietnam also urgently deploy expansion plans. Cargill Vietnam Co., Ltd is expanding its operations in Vietnam, in addition to the successful field of animal feed production. It is expected that by the end of this year, Cargill will put into operation a 10 million USD warehouse at Phu My port in Ba Ria – Vung Tau province.

Cargill also plans to work with the Ministry of Transport on investment in the northern port project to expand its range of operations in many investment sectors in Vietnam.

Dow Chemical, a large US chemical company, after more than 20 years of operation in Vietnam, the company is intending to expand its operations in 2017. Dow Chemical is cooperating with many companies in Vietnam in the fields of agricultural chemicals, biotechnology and services. Furthermore, with long-term investment commitments, in addition to raising capital, Dow Chemical is ready to assist Vietnam in developing a national list of chemicals for research and development.

Statistics show that, up to May 2017, US businesses have invested in 834 projects in Vietnam, with total registered capital of 10.2 billion USD, ranked 9/116 countries and territories that have investment projects in Vietnam.

Moreover, according to an AmCham survey of 100 US companies in Vietnam, 72% of respondents said that Vietnam’s investment environment was improving, much better than Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand and Brunei.

US investment capital flows into Vietnam are no longer tied up in some areas of high profitability as before. Presently, some conditional business areas such as casino, entertainment… are expected to attract more capital from US businesses.

For example, Time Warner Inc., the world’s leading media and entertainment company, is also looking for direct investment opportunities in Vietnam.

So far, most of the key businesses in Vietnam are having the presence of major US investors, typically oil and gas sector with famous names such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron; Boeing, ADC-HAS Airport in the field of aviation; Information technology with Microsoft, Intel, Apple, HP; Electrical appliances with General Electric, General Atlantis and AES…

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Jabil Expands Investment in Vietnam

Jabil Circuit, Inc has just broke ground to build a new factory in Saigon Hi-Tech Park (SHTP), realizing the plan to expand investment in Vietnam.

The event marked the expansion of Jabil Group’s operation in Vietnam, with total factory area of 38,369 square meters. The factory is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2017. The new facility will provide additional production and warehousing spaces to meet future large-scale manufacturing activities for products such as computer, storage, networking equipment, telecommunications, automation, digital housing, mobility, sale equipment, printing, industry and energy.

This expansion also marks Jabil’s a decade of development in Vietnam and a stepping stone for the future growth of the Group.

Jabil started operations at SHTP in September 2007, specializing in the manufacture of electronics and telecommunications equipment with an initial investment of only 30 million USD. However, in 2011, Jabil decided to raise capital to 100 million USD. And in 2015, Jabil once again announced the expansion of investment in Vietnam. According to the signed memorandum, Jabil plans to invest an additional 500 million USD to expand production in Vietnam with a facility of more than 93,000 square meters.

Currently, Jabil Vietnam employs around 4,500 people and aims to create over 3,000 new jobs for the province in the next five years. In addition, Jabil also plans to develop high quality human resources in Vietnam for future leadership positions through training and development opportunities.

Jabil is a product solutions company that provides electronic technology solutions including design, manufacturing and comprehensive manufacturing management for electronics and technology companies around the world. Providing complete supply chain management from facilities in 28 countries, Jabil offers comprehensive and focused solutions for customers in a variety of industries. In Vietnam, Jabil specializes in providing large-scale product solutions for sectors as industry, power, networking and telecommunications equipment, sales and printing equipment.

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Hong Kong Investors Explore Vietnam Infrastructure Projects

Hong Kong investors are promoting investment in southern provinces in the areas such as infrastructure investment, waste water treatment, waste and also learn about set up company in Vietnam.

Recently, about 40 Hong Kong investors and experts in investment and infrastructure development sectors have visited Ho Chi Minh City. Sharing the purpose of this business trip, Mr Vincent HS Lo – Chairman of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council said that these investors are people who have a lot of experiences in the financial, consulting, architecture, energy, water and waste treatment, engineering and construction, law and accounting, transportation sectors…

Also according to Mr Vincent HS Lo, investors and businesses in Hong Kong are very interested in Vietnam infrastructure projects, especially the system of railway, road, airport and seaport.

Previously, during meetings with representatives of the Ministry of Transport in Hanoi, representatives of Hong Kong investors and businesses also expressed their interest in the North-South Expressway Project with a length of more than 1,300 km. A Hong Kong representative said that this project would help develop the strengths of a gateway to attract investment in large projects.

According to Hong Kong businesses, in addition to transport infrastructure, they are also interested in large-scale real estate projects in Vietnam. Mr Johnson Choi, Managing Director of Sunwah Group said that the company had many large investment projects in Vietnam, notably real estate projects. According to Mr Choi, among countries in Asia, Vietnam is considered as a potential country for real estate. Therefore, not only investing in projects in HCMC, Hong Kong businesses also pay attention to projects in Hanoi and the Central region.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, as of the end of the first quarter of 2017, Hong Kong is the sixth largest investor in Vietnam with more than 1,200 projects and a total registered capital of more than 17.57 billion USD.

Hong Kong’s licensed projects in Vietnam are quickly implemented. For example, the project of Worldon Vietnam Co., Ltd in Dong Nam Industrial Zone (HCMC), after being licensed to increase capital by 140 million USD in 2016, has nearly completed the Fashion Design and Production Center for high quality knitwear.

Or project of Nam Phuong Textile Joint Venture Co., Ltd., with registered capital of 120 million USD in Viet Huong 2 Industrial Zone (Binh Duong), has made new moves in the project implementation after starting work at the end of 2014. The project is constructed on an area of 12 hectares, operating in the field of weaving fabric, phase I has capacity of 36 million meters of cloth per year, mainly for export…

In 2016, Vietnam is Hong Kong’s largest export market in ASEAN with a total export turnover of 9.25 billion USD. In addition, Vietnam is Hong Kong’s third largest trading partner in the ASEAN region with a total bilateral trade reached 16.2 billion USD.

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UK Company Interested in Vietnam Aviation Market

NATS (National Air Traffic Solutions), a UK-based aviation solutions provider, has showed its ambition to set up company in Vietnam and enter the Vietnam aviation market. In addition, NATS is interested in Long Thanh Airport.

NATS is headquartered in the UK but the company is also present in Asia and is currently implementing a globalization strategy. NATS is planning to expand its market in addition to offices currently based in Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok. In which, Vietnam is an important market for NATS because Vietnam aviation market is growing at a very fast speed. The number of passengers is expected to double by 2020.

Vietnamese airlines are bringing in a lot of new aircrafts. Therefore, Vietnam aviation industry is facing many challenges in terms of infrastructure and air traffic control… Therefore, NATS with experiences working and managing airports with one, two, three runways as well as the busiest airports in the world are ready to assist the Vietnam aviation authorities to operate more effectively.

Long Thanh Airport is a concern of NATS because it will be a large airport. NATS always wants to be able to deliver efficient, optimal management solutions to airports with high capacity. Currently, NATS is supporting the management of 2.4 million flights and 250 million passengers a year in the UK. Moreover, they are also involved in managing and providing solutions to many major airports in Europe. NATS has been presented in Asia for 40 – 50 years and has cooperated with gateway airports in Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore…

NATS has met and worked with Vietnam Air Traffic Management Corporation (VATM), a member of CANSO (Civil Air Navigation Services Organization) to discuss the potential and opportunities for cooperation in the coming time.

In the short term, NATS will cooperate with VATM to open training courses, for example air traffic controllers. At the same time, NATS will learn more about the Vietnam market. If you have the opportunity and opportunity, NATS will set up a representative office in Vietnam.

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Vietnam airport operator misses out on retail business opportunities

The ACV made just $1 per passenger from retail services last year, far behind regional operators.

Despite robust growth in passenger numbers, the state-owned Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV), which operates the country’s civilian airports, generated only $81 million from non-aeronautical businesses such as airport retail in 2016, or 15 percent of the annual target.

 Industry experts said the airport operator’s revenue mainly comes from the aeronautical sector such as landing fees and passenger service charges. Meanwhile it hasn't focused enough on non-aeronautical business, especially the airport retail business. 

 The operator estimated its revenue from retail at $1 per passenger last year, far below the average of other airport operators in Asia that reached up to $12.

Thailand’s AOT and Malaysia’s BHD raked in $4-5 per passenger last year.

The ACV, which operates 22 civilian airports in Vietnam, recorded significant growth in passenger traffic in 2016 to an estimated 81 million, with Vietnam’s airline market developing at the third-fastest pace in the Asia-Pacific region.

According to market research group Nielsen, Vietnam’s airline market will be fueled by the middle and affluent class which is forecast to rise from 12 million people in 2014 to 33 million by 2020.

However, ACV revenue lags behind it's Thai counterpart even after factoring differences in passenger traffic. As of the end of the third quarter of 2016, the ACV’s annual revenue was only equal to 40 percent of Thailand’s airport operator AOT while passenger traffic made up as much as 68 percent. 

The proportion of international arrivals at Vietnam’s airports is about 30 percent of total passenger traffic, compared to 58 percent in Thailand and 48 percent in Malaysia, while service charges on international travelers are higher than those for domestic passengers. That partly explains why the ACV is so far behind many of its competitors in the region in terms of revenue.

Airports Corporation of Vietnam, which is currently valued at $1.2 billion, is one of Vietnam’s biggest state-owned enterprises.

Last year, the ACV raised $51.6 million by selling a 3.47 percent stake in an initial public offering where foreigners snapped up 82 percent of the shares on offer.

France's Aeroports de Paris SA has emerged as the front-runner to buy a 20 percent stake in the HoChi Minh City-based company, according to the Transport Ministry. The deal is scheduled to take place in March.

Source: E.Vnexpress

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Vietjet Air Had 26 Foreign Investors

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Vietjet Air Had 26 Foreign Investors

The total number of shares that foreign shareholders are holding at Vietjet Air accounting for more than 24% of charter capital.

Recently, Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Transport has signed a written approval for Vietjet’s 5 shareholders to transfer 66,506,870 shares, equivalent to 22.169% of the charter capital of 3,000 billion VND to 23 foreign investors.

Earlier, in December 2016, the Ministry of Transport has also agreed for 1 Vietjet’s shareholder to transfer 6.566 million shares, equivalent to 2.626% of charter capital for 3 foreign investors, who are: Wareham Group Limited (British Virgin Island), Dragon Capital Markets Limited (Cayman Island) and DC Developing Markets Strategies Public Company (Ireland). The amount of transferred money was not revealed, but ranged from 65 billion VND to 788 billion VND. The transfer has been completed and aproved by the Department of Planning and Investment of Hanoi on December 22^nd 2016.

In total, the transfer of shares to foreign investors has reached 24.358% of charter capital.

According to Vietnam Civil Aviation Administration, the transfer of shares to foreign investors of Vietjet is valid. The transfer does not increase the charter capital of Vietjet, foreign investors do not participate in the executive apparatus, management operations and administration works of Vietjet and therefore it does not alter the business plan and development strategy of Vietjet.

Relating to the transfer of shares to foreign investors, according to Decree 92, the foreign parties cannot occupy more than 30% of charter capital and foreign members shall not exceed 1/3 of the total number of members participating in the executive apparatus.

Vietjet Air is the first airline in Vietnam operating under the model of the new generation airline, with low cost and provides a variety of services for customers to select. Vietjet is an official member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) with IOSA safety operation certificate. Besides the position of “Top 500 Leading Brands in Asia in 2016”, Vietjet is voted as “Best Asian Low Cost Carrier” in 2015 by the TTG Travel Awards and Top 3 airlines that have fastest growth facebook fanpage in the world, evaluated by SocialBakers.

Currently, Vietjet is operating 42 A320 and A321 aircrafts, performed about 350 flights a day and has transported nearly 35 million passengers, with 60 routes covering destinations in Vietnam and international routes to Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, China, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Cambodia…

Vietjet has planned to develop extensive flight network throughout Asia – Pacific region. Moreover, they are studying for further expansion of routes in the region and has signed procurement contracts to purchase new generation aircrafts.

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