Chinese attempt to bring casinos into Vietnam

VietNamNet Bridge - Will the increasingly high investments by mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau bring opportunities or challenges?

VietNamNet Bridge - Will the increasingly high investments by mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau bring opportunities or challenges?

Vietnam remains “closed” in its policies relating to casinos. However, investors still put high hopes on the country as an ideal place for casino projects.

The Grand Ho Tram Strip in Ba Ria – Vung Tau province now receives a large proportion of players from China and South Korea.

The same is occurring with hotels and resorts allowed to run casinos for foreigners in the central and northern provinces of Vietnam.

Experts estimate that if Vietnam gives a nod to casino projects, the casino industry may bring revenue of $3 billion a year. Experienced investors from Macau or Hong Kong are thus interested..

Chinese have not only been hunting opportunities in Vietnam, but in South East Asia and all over the world as well. They have been trying to acquire assets which are getting cheaper in countries suffering from an economic crisis.

The US newswire Bloomberg reported that Chinese are now eyeing strong brands in Europe.

China, for example, sent word intimating that it wants to buy Potsdamer Platz, a high-end shopping center in Berlin, Germany, and Pirelli, a well-known tire manufacturer in Italy.

A lot of European strong brands have fallen into Chinese hands, including Swedish Volvo (automobile), Peugeot Citroen (automobile), Sonya Rykiel (fashion), Piraeus (seaport), Pizza Express (food) and Aquascutum (fashion).

The total value of the merger and acquisition deals Chinese made in 2014 increased significantly by 41 percent, while half of the deals had value of over $1 billion.

Chinese have also injected their money into mammoth infrastructure projects in South America and mining projects in Africa. They even want oil & gas projects in North America. As Russia is facing a lot of difficulties, China has offered tens of billions of dollars through deals in the oil and gas sector.

What about Asia and Vietnam? If everything goes smoothly, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a Chinese-initiated bank, would become operational in 2015 with initial investment capital of $50 billion, half of which will come from China.

The financial institution is expected to help China and its partners turn a dream into reality on the Silk Road, on land and at sea, which links the west and the east.

In order to implement the ambitious plan, China is now moving ahead with a project on a railway linking China with South East Asia.

The Chinese government is encouraging its businesses to make outward investments, while trying to turn the yuan into a convertible currency for international payments.

NCDT