In the first four months of this year, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Vietnam attracted an additional US$12.33 billion in foreign investment capital, a 14.5 percent drop from the same period of 2019 but higher than that of the same periods in 2018 and 2017.
Singapore was the biggest foreign investor with committed volume accounting for 41.1 percent, or US$5.07 billion, followed by Thailand and Japan with total registered capital of US$1.46 billion and US$1.16 billion, respectively. With 549 projects totaling US$10.8 billion in capital, Thailand currently ranks ninth among 132 countries and territories investing in Vietnam. In recent years, Thai tycoons acquired leading Vietnamese enterprises.
In the first quarter of 2020, the Delta Electronics (Thailand) Public Co., Ltd. announced that it would officially set up a subsidiary with chartered capital of US$500,000 in Vietnam in the second or third quarter of 2020 to conduct trade exchange and provide solutions through Delta’s electronic products.
A representative of the Delta Electronics (Thailand) Public Co., Ltd. said the Covid-19 pandemic has not changed the company’s expansion plans in Southeast Asia, as the region, especially Vietnam, holds out positive prospects in the long term, and many multinational corporations intend to move their factories from China to Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries.
Thailand’s Stark Corporation Public Company Limited spent more than US$240 million (VND5.6 trillion) in acquiring Vietnam’s Thipha Cable and Dong Viet Non-Ferrous Metal and Plastic Joint Stock Company (DOVINA) to become a leading electric cable manufacturer in the region.
Another Thai business - the Super Energy Corporation Public Company Limited committed to spend US$457 million on shares of Loc Ninh 1 (200MW), Loc Ninh 2 (200MW), Loc Ninh 3 (150MW) and Loc Ninh 4 (200MW) solar power projects in the southeastern province of Binh Phuoc. The projects were launched in October 2018, with their largest shareholder being the Hung Hai Group (owning 51 percent of the projects’ capital).
Most recently, SCG, a Thai multi-industry corporation, said it decided to enter into a joint venture with Japan’s leading cardboard manufacturer - Rengo - to acquire 15 percent (almost 635 million baht or 448-500 billion dong) of Vietnam’s Bien Hoa Packaging Company’s asset value in order to increase its presence in Vietnam in particular and ASEAN in general.
A Thai Business (Vietnam) Association (TBA) representative said opportunities abound in Vietnam if one knows how to take advantage of them. Vietnam’s strong growth and young population, with an average age of only 27, are strong factors in the country’s attraction for foreign investors.
Source: http://ven.vn/