Reports all show increased interest of American and European investors in Vietnamese businesses.

The US is in the top 10 countries and territories with the highest value of M&A.

Thoi bao Kinh Te Sai Gon cited a report of the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) as showing that in the last four months, US investors carried out 101 transactions of buying into Vietnam’s enterprises with total value of $68.58 million. The figures represent an increase of nine deals and two times in value in comparison with the same period last year.

Analysts noted that at the same time, only 37 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects from the US were licensed with total investment capital of $25.5 million. This means that the total FDI capital from the US was just equal to 1/3 of the value of M&A deals made by the US investors.

Even European countries, which always had low number of M&A transactions, have also begun buying into more Vietnam’s businesses. In the first four months of the year, France had 78 M&A transactions with total value of $27 million.

Though the value of the M&A decreased by $11 million, there were 37 more transactions than the same period last year.

In the last four months, US investors carried out 101 transactions of buying into Vietnam’s enterprises with total value of $68.58 million. The figures represent an increase of nine deals and two times in value in comparison with the same period last year.

As for the UK, the country made 32 M&A deals with total registered capital of $38.56 million, an increase of 14 transactions.

The Netherlands made 15 M&A transactions with contributed capital of $46 million. The figures were 27 and $4.74 million, respectively, and Switzerland had 14 transactions.

Other European countries, including Denmark, Belgium, Italy and Finland also had M&A deals in Vietnam.

Analysts noted that following Asian investors, the investors from the EU and US also want to invest in Vietnam’s businesses, which can help them penetrate the Vietnamese market quickly and more cheaply.

FIA reported that foreign investors have invested $2.5 billion in Vietnam through M&A deals in the first four months of the year. The figure represents a 34.7 percent decrease in value, but 33 percent in number of deals (3,210).

South Korea topped the list of biggest investors with 1,042 capital contribution deals (+ 267 deals), followed by China with 557 deals (+ 154). However, considering the total value of the deals, Japanese will be in the No 1 position. They only had 287 deals, but the amount of capital they spent was the biggest - $743 million.

An analyst commented that now is the right time to buy into Vietnam’s enterprises. As enterprises have become weaker in Covid-19, they have become cheaper.

Kim Chi 

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