Vietnam’s GDP predicted to grow by 6.7% in 2018

The Vietnamese economy is expected to expand by 6.7% in 2018, according to an estimate by the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI).

Manufacturing activity is the main driver of the Vietnamese economy. 

At a conference on September 24, MPI Minister Nguyen Chi Dung said that there were many bright spots in the economic picture over the first three quarters of the year and macroeconomic stability has been maintained to create the foundation for restructuring.

He added that inflation for the whole year would be contained at less than 4% while budget revenues are expected to reach VND1.3 quadrillion (US$55.9 billion), up 3% compared to the target figure.

The spending deficit is projected to reach 3.67%, below the National Assembly’s target of 3.7%.

According to Minister Dung, growth continues to be driven by all sectors, with manufacturing activity playing a key role.

The Vietnamese economy grew by 7.08% in the first half of 2018 and the figure for the third quarter is scheduled to be announced on September 29.

Masan Group and SK Group share many similarities in their respective businesses, which helps explain why they have recently become strategic partners.

In mid-2018, Masan Resources acquired H.C.Starck GmBH’s 49 per cent stake in the joint venture. This is the strategic step of Masan Resources to become an integrated tungsten chemical champion

September 19 was a historic day for both SK Group and Masan Group. Both corporate groups signed an agreement to enter into a strategic partnership, spearheaded by SK’s $470 million investment into Masan. This deal will significantly increase SK’s presence in the Southeast Asian region. SK sees Vietnam, the region’s fastest-growing economy, as a strategic base. They also view Masan as an ideal strategic partner to accelerate their regional objectives while also benefiting from Masan’s promising growth story as the largest foreign, strategic shareholder.

Looking briefly at the history of both corporate groups shows many common traits shared by these leading businesses of their respective countries.

Masan Group and South Korea Group forged a strategic partnership: SK to invest about $470 million to become Masan Group’s largest strategic shareholder

SK Group is one of the largest corporate groups in South Korea, with businesses across the energy, chemicals, telecommunications, semiconductors, logistics, and service sectors. The group operates globally, in over 40 countries, and had a combined revenue of $141 billion at the end of the year 2017.

Within South Korea, they are easily recognisable for their many gas stations, which bear the group’s signature red-orange colour scheme. SK is also known for running the country’s largest telecommunications operator, SK Telecom, with over 40 million customers or approximately 70 per cent of South Korean population. SK Hynix, another affiliate, is the world’s second-largest memory chip maker after Samsung Electronics. SK Group is comprised of 95 subsidiaries and affiliates and employs over 80,000 people.

SK’s presence in Vietnam traces back to 2003, when it established Vietnam’s first CDMA wireless network under the brand name “S-Phone”. In 2018, SK won the bid to build an ethylene plant and other utility facilities, a $2.7 billion contract, in the Long Son Petrochemical Complex located in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

SK and Masan are leading businesses in South Korea and Vietnam, respectively. Both have the same strategic vision, which focuses on a few, but scalable businesses with high growth potential. SK are leaders in the energy, chemicals, telecommunications, semiconductors, logistics, and services sectors. Meanwhile, Masan is the leader in Vietnam’s packaged food and beverages, animal protein (3F and branded meat), tungsten chemicals, and, through its associate company Techcombank, financial services markets.

Like Masan, SK deployed strategic mergers and acquisitions (M&A) for growth, which boosted SK’s market cap four-fold within only eight years. Some of SK’s most notable transformational deals include acquiring Korea Oil and turning it into one of the largest oil companies in South Korea.

In 1994, SK Group forayed into telecom through the privatisation of state-owned Korea Mobile Telecommunications Corp. In 1997, the company renamed the unit SK Telecom and it is now South Korea’s largest telecom company.

SK Hynix was previously known as Hyundai Electronics, until SK Telecom became its major shareholder in 2012 and renamed it SK Hynix. The chip firm then grew to become the world’s second-largest memory chip maker.

In Vietnam, Masan is also no stranger to M&A, and employs it as a strategic tactic to achieve explosive and sustainable growth while turning around many businesses.

In 2011, Masan Consumer entered the instant coffee market via the acquisition of Vinacafé Bien Hoa, Vietnam’s largest instant coffee maker. Vinacafé Bien Hoa’s revenue grew to VND3.2 trillion ($141.6 million) in financial year 2017 from VND1.6 trillion ($70.8 million) in 2011, with gross margins nearly doubling over the same period.

For its tungsten chemicals business, Masan transformed Nui Phao from a greenfield project into the world’s largest single supplier of tungsten chemicals (APT, BTO, YTO) on the ex-China market, following the establishment of Masan Resources.

Recently, Masan Resources acquired H.C. Starck’s stake in Nui Phao for a consideration of $29 million. Through this deal, Masan Resources now fully owns one of the world’s most advanced midstream tungsten chemicals processors. The company is actively looking for opportunities to go further downstream in the tungsten value chain, a $11 billion market opportunity.

In 2015, Masan consolidated and transformed Proconco and ANCO, Vietnam’s leading feed producers, by applying a FMCG approach to an agricultural business under the Masan Nutri-Science banner.

Proconco and ANCO provided Masan Nutri-Science entry into the meat value chain. In no time, with the acquired synergies, Masan Nutri-Science became a key player in Vietnam’s feed market with a 35-per-cent market share in pig feed alone. At the same time, Masan Nutri-Science built the industry’s first power brand “Bio-zeem” – a proprietary enzyme which boosts feed conversion ratio for pigs.

Masan’s high-tech pig farm in the central province of Nghe An is now operational, and will provide pork to a new meat processing complex under construction in the northern province of Ha Nam. The company is expected to enter fresh branded meat by end of 2018, a $10 billion market opportunity.

Both Masan and SK utilise M&A to achieve vertical integration, which helps secure the groups’ raw material sources and technology to create end-consumer products.

From what it seems, there are ways that SK and Masan’s businesses can complement each other, including animal protein (SK now owns a 27-per-cent stake in China’s third-largest beef-producing and processing company), memory chips and chemicals (the chip business requires tungsten as a material), and even entirely new opportunities which both groups can jointly pursue.

Conclusion

Many parts of SK’s growth story resemble steps taken by Masan. Both are leading businesses in their home countries, South Korea and Vietnam, and both have mastered the art of M&A to win big in their businesses in such a short time. With the $470 million investment from SK, Masan Group now has a strategic war chest which it can use to drive innovations and strengthen its balance sheet for future growth.

Vietnam amends Competition Law to better manage cross-border deals

Vietnam is upgrading its Competition Law to manage cross-border deals and control economic concentration in the market.

The amended Competition Law, which is slated to take effect on July 1, 2019, covers lots of progressive provisions attuned to international best practices. Compared to the Law on Competition 2004, the new law is based on a combination of economic and legal ideas to increase the effectiveness of enforcement.

One of these is changing the approach to economic concentration. Accordingly, economic concentration is no longer considered an anti-competitive act per se. Controlling economic concentration will be based on assessing its impact on competition instead of notification requests and limiting the combined market shares of involved parties.

According to Tran Phuong Lan, head of the Economic Concentration Control Department under the Vietnam Competition Authority (VCA), the amended law expands government to all transactions and forms of economic concentration that take place outside of Vietnam, but have anti-competitive effects on the Vietnamese market.

Lan cited the acquisition of the Big C and Metro supermarket chains that caused concerns among stakeholders in the retail market about possible anti-competitive impacts. The Law on Competition 2004 controls economic concentration only on the basis of combined market share. Thus, the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) cases of Big C and Metro are not prohibited by the old law, because their combined market shares remain below the market threshold.

“However, similar transactions taking place from July 1, 2019 will be dealt with in accordance with the Competition Law 2018. There will be evaluations and suitable measures to ensure a fair and healthy competitive environment as well as protect the relevant stakeholders in the market,” she said, noting that the VCA would join forces with foreign organisations to investigate cross-border M&A deals.

In addition, the 2004 Competition Law uses only a single criterion to control economic concentration, which is the relevant market threshold. It prohibits economic concentrations where the combined market share on the relevant market exceed 50 per cent. Enterprises, which have 30-50 per cent of the relevant market must notify the competition agency prior to implementing such an economic concentration.

Lan said that it is quite difficult for enterprises to calculate the market share when they do not know the total revenue of all players in the market. Therefore, the amended law introduces more criteria, including total assets, total revenue, deal value, and combined market share of the involved parties.

“The move aims to make it easier for enterprises to understand when they need to notify the authorities. However, the provisions do not apply to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and specific cases like Grab’s acquisition of Uber’s Southeast Asia operations, including Vietnam,” she said.

The amended law also prohibits practices which have or may potentially restrict competition. Phung Van Thanh, deputy head of the Department of Investigation of Anti-Competitive Behaviour under the VCA, stressed if enterprises entered into a cartel arrangement to increase prices, it would affect millions of consumers in Vietnam.

“However, there are some exceptions, like exporters taking part in a cartel to raise prices in overseas markets to generate more revenue and jobs for Vietnam, or a group of domestic television stations negotiating to get the best price on broadcasting rights for international sports programmes,” Thanh said.

Vietnam’s Competition Law 2018 is based on Australian experience and was developed with support from the "Australia Supports Economic Reform in Vietnam" programme (Aus4Reform). The Aus4Reform programme, sponsored by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, is worth $6.5 million and is deployed from 2017 to 2021.

CJ Group opens sixth animal feed plant in Vietnam

CJ Group announced the opening of a new CJ Vina Agri Feed Production Plant in An Hoa Industrial Zone in the central province of Binh Dinh on September 24.

CJ Vina Agri Binh Dinh Factory has a total investment value of $13.6 million. Covering an area of 41,000 square metres, the factory will have an estimated capacity of about 72,000 tonnes per year.

Lee Tae Ki, general director of biological resource business of CJ CheilJedang (Korea), said that Vietnam has been selected as the most important strategic investment area of CJ group. The group has been concentrating its resources on investment and development in Vietnam. CJ Group is dedicated to maximising investment to achieve the medium and long-term plan of the Great CJ Plan 2020.

Kim Sun Kang, general director of CJ Vina Agri added that CJ Group has now moved to a new chapter, and the role and mission of the future CJ Group is located here, in Vietnam.

CJ Group wishes to become a global company that always accompanies customers and actively contributes to the development of the livestock industry in general and the animal feed sector of Vietnam in particular.

The group brings customers the best products and services by continuously transferring to Vietnam the technical know-how of the specific industry and animal feed production in Korea. At the same time, CJ is committed to maximising its efforts, acquiring customer feedback, continually learning, concentrating on all resources so as not to subdue customer expectations, while promoting cooperation and strategic relations.

CJ Vina Agri started business in Vietnam in 2001 with the launch of the Long An plant. Hung Yen—the second factory in Northern Vietnam—was inaugurated in 2006. In 2008, CJ Vina Agri built the Vinh Long factory, which specialises in the production of fish feed.

In 2015, CJ continued to inaugurate the Dong Nai factory. By January this year, the Ha Nam factory was put into operation. On September 21, the sixth plant of CJ Vina Agri, the Binh Dinh factory was officially inaugurated. In addition, CJ Vina Agri is building a factory in the Mekong Delta region, bringing the total number of animal food processing plants to seven in the coming time.

Realme smartphones to enter Vietnam next month

A representative of the Realme smartphone brand on September 24 announced a plan to penetrate the Vietnam market with the launch of at least two products in October.

Established in May by former vice president of OPPO Sky Li, Madhav Sheth and a skilled young workforce, Realme has committed to manufacturing smartphones at reasonable prices with a strong configuration.

Smartphones are not only a tool for contact but also help users relax, work, learn and communicate with society, according to Realme. Besides this, the appearance and design of smartphones have become a symbol for young individuals’ personalities. Many smartphones in the mid-range segment, however, have failed to meet customers’ rising demand for both efficiency and eye-catching designs. 

Sky Li noted in a press release that Realme expects to provide technology lovers with high-quality smartphones that also highlight users’ style and personality as the company found most young smartphone users face multiple difficulties with phones in the market, such as short battery life, poor performance and commonplace designs.

A 2017 report from the market researcher GfK said that smartphones sold 232.7 million units in newly emerging markets in Asia, up 8% against 2016. The figure is expected to grow to 9% in these countries in 2018.

As such, these potential markets will pave the way for Realme to expand its reach if the company continues to research and launch high-quality smartphones with eye-catching designs at reasonable prices.

Vietnam and Indonesia are Realme’s first two target markets in Southeast Asia, according to the company.

Sky Li stated that Vietnam was one of the Southeast Asian countries witnessing rapid growth in technology, giving Realme a strong chance for development in serving a population of up to 90 million and with smartphone penetration in the country amounting to a low 40%.

The Chinese smartphone brand has a production factory in India, where as many as 400,000 Realme 1 smartphones were sold within two months, giving the brand a “best seller” tag on the Amazon India website. The achievement also helped Realme grab 4% of the online market share.

Realme 2 was introduced on the Flipkart website, India’s largest online retailer, in early September. Selling 370,000 units, Realme 2 contributed to Realme’s success with one million Realme users recorded to date.

Based on its achievements in India, Realme intends to enter the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Viettel Global to list 2.24 billion plus shares

More than 2.24 billion Viettel Global shares will make their debut on Hanoi's unlisted public company market, UPCoM, on September 25.

The shares of Viettel Global Investment Joint Stock Company, with the sticker VGI, will be traded on the UPCoM at a floor price of VND15,000 (US$0.65) per unit.

Viettel Global will become the largest firm on the UPCoM with market capitalization of VND33.6 trillion (US$1.44 billion).

Established in late 2007 with chartered capital of VND960 billion (US$41.18 million) as a unit of Viettel Group, Viettel Global covers the military group's overseas investments. 

Viettel Group holds 98.68% of the stake in Viettel Global.

At a general meeting in June, shareholders of Viettel Global approved a plan to increase its chartered capital to VND30.4 trillion (US$1.3 billion).

In 2017, Viettel Global served nearly 40 million international customers, a growth of 13% from the previous year.

To date, Viettel Global makes profits in eight of the ten markets that it operates in. The eight markets are Cambodia, Laos, Timor Leste, Mozambique, Burundi, Haiti, Peru, and Cameroon. It entered Tanzania two years ago and Myanmar just this month. 

Viettel Global plans to enter several new markets, mainly in ASEAN.

For this year, the company targets increasing its subscriber numbers by 10-15%, bringing the cumulative population of its markets to 400 - 500 million and rank among the top 10 global telecom companies.

Viettel Global announced consolidated revenues of over VND19 trillion (US$810 million) for 2017, an increase of 24% year-on-year, and a net profit of VND27 billion (US$1.16 million).

India tops seafood suppliers to Vietnamese market

India stood as the biggest supplier of all types of seafood products to Vietnam, making up 21.9% of the country’s total seafood imports in the first eight months of the year, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

The preliminary statistics show that Vietnam imported US$1.14 billion worth of seafood products in the past eight months, up 24.2% despite a decrease of 9.9% in August.

Norway ranked second among the countries providing seafood to the Vietnamese market with a dramatic increase of 66.7%. Imports from South East Asian nations also expanded to US$93.19 million against last year’s corresponding period.

Considerable growth was seen in most import markets such as Malaysia, Canada, the Republic of Korea and the US, while imports from markets like Myanmar, Denmark and Poland suffered remarkable declines.

Work starts on $44m solar plant in Binh Thuan     

The construction of a solar power plant, capitalised at VND1 trillion (nearly US$44 million), kicked off on Sunday in the southern province of Binh Thuan.

Spanning 45ha in Bac Binh Distict, Song Luy 1 solar power plant will install 130,000 solar panels that will enable to produce 80 million kWh annually.

Financed by the province’s Binh Thuan Solar Power Investment Joint Stock Company, the plant is slated for completion in April 2019.

Nguyen Ngoc Hai, chairman of Binh Thuan People’s Committee, said that the solar power plant – one of the priority projects in the locality – would mark an important milestone in the province’s new energy development scheme.

Once operational, the plant will not only contribute to increasing capacity of the national power grid but also encouraging more investors to develop similar projects in the province, Hai said.

In his speech at the event, Chairman of Binh Thuan solar power investment joint stock company Tran The Thanh said his company has co-operated closely with world-leading firms in solar power to develop and operate the plant.

Thanh said he hoped his company’s project will help utilise Binh Thuan’s potential for solar power development, contribute to the province’s socio-economic development and create more local jobs.

As part of the province’s master plan until 2030, Binh Thuan is calling for investment in solar power plants with a combined capacity of more than 4,000MW.

Binh Thuan is expected to become a clean power centre for the country in the near future.

Earlier on September 19, work on the province’s first solar energy project worth $44 million commenced in its Tuy Phong District.

Covering an area of 50ha, the plant is expected to produce a maximum of 63 million kWh a year for Binh Thuan Province. 

Brand building key for agri firms     

Brand building and a focus on quality and innovation are key for a successful agriculture business, experts said during a panel on agricultural businesses’ competitiveness.

Huynh Kim Tuoc, CEO of Sai Gon Innovation Hub, said that Viet Nam was importing many vegetables from China, Thailand and other countries, even though many areas in Viet Nam such as Lam Dong Province and Mekong Delta are renowned for their quality produce.

Pham Minh Quang, deputy director of the Mekong Business Initiative, said that Vietnamese farmers and businesses “still focus too much on quantity rather than quality, even though consumer demand for high quality food is on the rise”.

Other countries, such as Cambodia, harvest and produce less rice than Viet Nam, but their rice is more well known.

To enter more demanding and more lucrative markets, he said that production should focus on quality and international standards, as well as more advanced technologies.

He said that the Government and businesses should work together to improve brand building and promotion, because Vietnamese produce is not as well known as other countries’ produce in foreign markets.

Vu Kim Hanh, director of the Business Studies and Assistance Centre, said that geographical indicators could help provide more information about produce.

Nguyen Hong Dang Khoa, director of Tri Nguyen High Tech Agriculture Co Ltd, noted that brand building should inform customers about how the brand and products are made, as well as their unique selling points.

Engaging stories about how or why the company is formed, or farm tours to provide customers with a better picture of the production process, can also be useful.

Regarding start-ups in the agricultural sector, Tuoc said that successful start-ups should be trend-setters and offer unique ideas based on real-life experiences, as well as identify problems that need solving.

Dinh Hoang Hiep, general director of V-CFO Partners, a financial management consulting firm, said that start-ups need high growth and clear market potential to attract investors, and should seek consultancy or feedback from others.

The discussion panel was a part of an exhibition event for start-ups in HCM City on September 22, where over 100 new businesses promoted agricultural produce, food, technologies and other goods. 

Minister: Economic shake-up crucial for fulfilling socio-economic targets

Economic restructuring should be channelled more specifically to realise the socio-economic targets set by the National Assembly, not only for 2018 but also for the following years, said Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung.

At a teleconference on September 24 with localities nationwide to evaluate the socio-economic situation in 2018 and set up plans for 2019, Dung underlined that cities and provinces should strictly implement the Government’s Resolution No.01/NQ-CP 2018 on key missions and solutions to realise the socio-economic plan and state budget estimate in 2018.

He also laid stress on the organisation of the conference, which he described as a breakthrough for the sector in carrying out socio-economic development solutions in a prompt, sustainable, and effective manner.

According to Tran Quoc Phuong, Director of the National Economic Issues Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, thanks to concerted efforts made by the Government, ministries, sectors, localities and businesses as well as support from international organisations and local people, Vietnam has recorded positive socio-economic development in 2018.

A stable macro-economy is a remarkable achievement and was the driving force behind the economic restructuring, as well as motivated other sectors, he said, adding that the GDP was estimated at 6.7 percent and inflation was under control with the consumer price index (CPI) being  well maintained below 4 percent.

The financial market experienced stable progress as credit growth was curbed at around 17 percent, meeting sufficient capital for the production and business sector, he said.

Improvements were seen in other important indexes, for example the debt rate fell from the 63.7 percent at the end of 2016 to around 61.4 percent this year. State budget collection was estimated at more than 1.35 quadrillion VND (57.8 billion USD), up 3 percent from the initial forecast and 5 percent from 2017.

However, State budget overspending was reckoned at 3.67 percent, higher than the level assigned by the National Assembly.

The teleconference also shed some light on the disbursement of public investment and ODA, FDI attraction, the renewal of the growth model, amendments to the Law on Public Investment, and the building of a revised planning law.

Da Nang proposes early building of Lien Chieu port

The People’s Committee of the central city of Da Nang has asked the Ministry of Planning and Investment to consider the early start of phase 1 of the construction of Lien Chieu port, in order to reduce traffic accidents in the city and boost local development. 

The Lien Chieu port project is of importance for Da Nang in terms of infrastructure, socio-economic development and security-defence, according to Resolution 33-NQ/TW dated October 16, 2003 of the 9th Politburo and Conclusion 75-KL/TW dated November 12, 2003 of the 9th Politburo. 

In November 2016, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc agreed in principle to the project in Notice 363/TB-VPCP of the Government Office following a working session with Da Nang authorities. 

Following the approval, Da Nang People’s Committee conducted a pre-feasibility study for the project and submitted to the Ministry of Transport, which later submitted its assessment of the study to the Prime Minister in May this year. 

At the end of May, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung instructed the Ministry of Planning and Investment evaluate the possible sources of investment capital for Lien Chieu port, while Da Nang was told to complete dossiers for the port project based on evaluation of concerned ministries and sectors. 

Da Nang authorities have completed dossiers for the project’s pre-feasibility research report. 

Statistics show with the annual growth of throughput at 16.2 percent, Da Nang’s ports will have to handle around 10 million tonnes of cargo by 2020 and 30 million tonnes by 2030, which will surpass the capacity of Tien Sa port after 2020 and overwhelm the transport infrastructure in the area, causing traffic jams and accidents as well as environmental pollution, thus affecting the city’s tourism development. 

Recently, the traffic flow of trucks and container trucks from Tien Sa port going through the Yet Kieu-Ngo Quyen-Ngu Hanh Son has surged, causing several serious accidents, hence the urgent need for the early construction of Lien Chieu port.  

According to Chairman of the Da Nang People’s Committee Huynh Duc Tho, the committee has proposed using the reserve fund for mid-term public investment during 2016-2020 for the project. 

Under Da Nang’s project on developing sea-based economy by 2025 with vision to 2030, which aims to build the central city into a maritime economic hub with explosive growth in companion with environment protection and sustainable development, the city will focus resources on developing maritime transport. 

 Accordingly, Tien Sa port will be reserved to serve cruise ships and Lien Chieu is set to become the major cargo port in the city. More inland container ports (ICDs) will be built to facilitate import-export activities as well as commodity transportation through the East-West Economic Corridor that links Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

Vietnam records nearly 5.6 billion USD in trade surplus

Trade surplus of Vietnam this year hit 5.57 billion USD as of September 15, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

During the period, the total foreign trade value came to about 331.57 billion USD, up 14 percent year on year.

The country shipped overseas 168.57 billion USD worth of goods, while spending 163 billion USD on imports. The figures represented annual increases of 16.3 and 11.7 percent year on year respectively.

Export revenues of the foreign-invested sector reached 118.81 billion USD, increasing 16.4 percent against the same period in 2017 and accounting for 70.5 percent of the country’s total export value.

Meanwhile their import spendings were at 97.63 billion USD or 59.9 percent of Vietnam’s total imports. The figure was 11.8 percent higher than that of the same period last year.

Binh Duong sees good economic signals in first nine months of 2018

The southern province of Binh Duong saw positive signals in economic growth in the first nine months of this year, with trade surplus reaching 3.8 million USD, a representative from the provincial People’s Committee.

The index of industrial production rose 9.37 percent in the January-September period, including an increase of 9.64 percent in processing industry. Many local firms have received full orders until the first quarter of 2019, with the number of orders increasing 5-10 percent year on year.

Its total retail and service revenue rose 17 percent over the same period last year to 140.858 trillion VND (6.05 billion USD).

In the reviewed period, the province attracted 39.35 trillion VND in investment from domestic firms, up 16.5 percent over the same period in 2017, along with 1.18 billion USD of foreign direct investment (FDI), fulfilling 84.95 percent of its yearly target.

So far, Binh Duong has hosted 3,430 FDI projects worth 31.29 billion USD, clinching its first position among localities nationwide in FDI attraction.

However, the province also faced a number of difficulties, including low disbursement of public investment, low production and prices of some kinds of farm produce, and infrastructure failing to meet the demand in goods transport.

Tran Thanh Liem, Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said that in the rest of the year, the province will continue improving its investment and business environment, while enhancing the provincial competitiveness as well as international integration index.

The province will also choose suitable projects, while calling for investment in industrial parks and clusters, he said.

The provincial leader said that the province will continue promoting the implementation of a smart city project in 2018, making it an ideal destination for investors.

MLand, TatiLand & MGLand named official agents of The Grand Manhattan

Vietnamese real estate developer the Novaland Group on September 14 announced the official sales agents for The Grand Manhattan in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1: the MLand Vietnam JSC (MLand), the Tati Real Estate Investments JSC (TatiLand), and the MGLand Vietnam JSC (MGLand).

The Grand Manhattan is a complex of service - commercial and residential apartments. It sits on more than 1.4 ha in the center of District 1 with two super-prime frontages and long-term ownership of 1,000 units available. It is also adjacent to 23/9 Park (more than 9 ha), five-star hotels, and the city’s financial center.

Despite the scarce land bank in the CBD, the project’s construction density is under 50 per cent, with amenities including 4,000 sq m of green area, two swimming pools, a kid’s playground, a BBQ terrace, and a shopping mall.

The Dat Viet Development JSC is the project investor and Novaland Group is the developer. Novaland has been developing more than 40 projects in apartments, villas, townhouse, offices, urban areas, and high-end resorts in strategic locations in Ho Chi Minh City and other cities and provinces in Vietnam. It has supplied over 26,000 products to the market to date.

MLand, TatiLand, and MGLand are prominent names in real estate agent services and manage properties around the country.

With the limited land bank in District 1 as well as the change in Ho Chi Minh City’s downtown planning to 2020, the supply of apartments in the area is very scarce. While demand for high-end apartments is on the rise in the center of Vietnam’s major cities as well as in Southeast Asia, especially in Ho Chi Minh City, the appearance of The Grand Manhattan has attracted major attention in the domestic and international real estate market.

The Japan-based Maruhide Koki Co., Ltd has announced plans to expand its business to Vietnam, which will become the fifth country in Southeast Asia where it operates and the seventh in Asia. The announcement confirms its commitment to meeting demand for constructing structural steel buildings and ensuring greater aesthetics in buildings in the country.

“Vietnam has huge potential, with rising ODA coming into the country, and a lot of projects, including structural steel, steel pipe construction, drilling rigs, towers, workshops, airports, ports, stadiums and theaters have gotten underway, which means increasing consumption of steel and the need for processed structural steel,” said Mr. Motoki Seki, Chairman of Maruhide. “We expect to contribute positively to the development of the construction, architecture, and transportation sectors in Vietnam.”

Its CNC pipe profile cutting machine will be launched in cooperation with Vietnamese precision sheet metal manufacturer Ecom Engineering at METALEX Vietnam 2018 from October 11-13 in Ho Chi Minh City. This is also an occasion for the Japanese group to meet its customer partners and provide machinery at attractive prices and with many special promotions, as well as to network with other companies in the industry. The Japanese group and Ecom earlier set up a center for demonstration and outsourcing services on structural steel at Ecom’s factory in southern Binh Duong province.

Established in 1962, Maruhide Koki focuses on specific customers such as designers, main contractors, and subcontractors (machining / assembling structural steel / pipe / rig / petroleum), especially in key projects and ODA projects. This is an opportunity and a challenge for Maruhide to complete the machinery and develop technology to meet market needs.

The Olympic Games will be held in Tokyo in 2020 and demand for the outsourcing of completed pipe cutting for construction works is estimated to skyrocket. As a result, many Japanese companies are outsourcing the cutting of pipes and pipe structures outside of Japan, and Vietnam is on the radar of many Japanese contractors.

Business culture and ethics key to success

Business culture and business ethics are key factors in a market economy and determine the success and sustainability of businesses, the “Business Culture and Business Ethics” workshop held on September 18 in Hanoi heard.

Experts said that Vietnamese enterprises face both opportunities and challenges that require they enhance their competitiveness not only in capital, business strategy, technology, productivity, quality, efficiency, and products but also in reputation, branding, and business ethics.

Mr. Pham Duc Binh, CEO of the BNC Vietnam Technology JSC, told the workshop that building a corporate culture is an essential task for sustainable development. Leaders, he added, are decisive in the behavior of all members of the business.

Mr. Le Minh Tuan, CEO of Team Up, said the sad fact is that society expects businesses to be ethical but the business environment is simply not healthy and lacks transparency, making it difficult for those businesses that seek to adopt ethical practices and possess a positive culture.

Sharing Sweden’s experience in building a business culture and business ethics, Mr. Johan Alvin, Second Secretary at the Embassy of Sweden, said the factor that helps them succeed in this regard is not about the business environment but in the organization. “We want to create an environment without boundaries between individuals,” he said. “When making difficult decisions, we encourage all employees, partners and colleagues to take the initiative. We strive to create a balance between work and life for each individual as a comfortable environment enables us to think well and be creative.”

Economic experts, business leaders, and a number of startups focused on two topics at the workshop: “How to make corporate culture not just a slogan” and “Strengthening business ethics and increasing brand credibility”.

MEF divests from Minh Hoang Garment JSC

Mekong Capital’s Mekong Enterprise Fund (MEF) has divested from its final remaining investment, the Minh Hoang Garment JSC (MHG).

The divestment follows the recent sale of the final investments in both the Mekong Enterprise Fund II and the Vietnam Azalea Fund. Its value was not disclosed.

“With the exit from Minh Hoang, we are delighted to have completed divestments from all of our first three funds,” said Mr. Chris Freund, Partner at Mekong Capital. “This enables us to focus on our newer investments in the Mekong Enterprise Fund III (MEF III), partnering closely with each of those companies to ensure they each achieve their vision.”

Established in 1992, MHG is a privately-owned Vietnamese garment manufacturer.

MHG is a producer of sports apparel, active-wear, and outerwear, supplying some of the top brands worldwide. It specializes in the production of woven garments, including complex and hi-tech apparel.

It is also one of Vietnam’s pioneers and leaders in lean manufacturing, having fully converted all of its production lines to lean since 2006. 

With the completion of this divestment, all investments in Mekong Capital’s first three funds have been fully exited, making it one of the first private equity funds in Asia to have fully divested from three funds. In total, Mekong Capital has completed 26 exits of private equity investments. All currently managed by Mekong Capital are held in MEF III, which has so far announced seven investments.