VietNamNet Bridge - The presence of many big South Korean conglomerates in Vietnam is expected to lure other South Korean investors to Vietnam in the time to come.

Hyosung on May 6 received an investment certificate for its $660 million project on making industrial fiber in Dong Nai province. 

This is the third project of the group in Vietnam. It is invested through a subsidiary in Turkey, and the other two projects, also in Dong Nai, are capitalized at 995 million. 

South Korea was named by the Foreign Investment Agency as the biggest foreign direct investor in Vietnam in the first four months of the year with committed investment capital of $909 million. 

Shin Dong Bin, President of Lotte Group, which has invested in many business fields in Vietnam, from real estate to retail, from fast food chain to cinema complexes, said Lotte is following necessary procedures to develop a smart complex with huge capital of $2 billion in Thu Thiem new urban area in HCM City, while it is still looking for other opportunities in Vietnam.

Lotte last year bought a 70 percent stake in Diamond Plaza building and Legend Saigon Hotel in HCM City, and put into operation a 65-storey shopping mall and office building in Hanoi.

Samsung, encouraged by the great successes from the development of the smartphone and mobile device manufacturing projects in the north, is marching toward the south, planning to kick off an electronics manufacturing project in the HCM City High-tech Park next year.

Samsung is also going to inject money into energy, shipbuilding and airport projects which require huge capital. Samsung C&T has signed an MOU on the development of the $2.5 billion Vung Ang 3 BOT thermal power plant in Ha Tinh province, while eyeing some investment items at the Long Thai Airport.

The huge capital flow from South Korea to Vietnam in recent years helped the country surpass Singapore and Japan as the biggest foreign direct investor in Vietnam in 2014 and the first four months of 2015.

The business expansion of the large conglomerates has lured hundreds of satellite companies from South Korea and other countries to Vietnam.

Samsung’s production complexes in Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen provinces alone have attracted 100 South Korean accessory suppliers to Vietnam. 

More recently, ACE Technology had a working session with Ha Nam provincial leaders on setting up a factory to develop wireless antennae for smartphones. The project is estimated to cost $70 million.

A report of KITA, a South Korean commercial association, showed that 49 percent of 540 South Korean businesses said they planned to develop business in Vietnam this year.

TBKTSG