Business
Southeast Asian firms see profit in Vietnamese companies
  • | VEF, dtinews | January 07, 2013 04:20 PM
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Many economic groups from Southeast Asia have acquired Vietnamese companies, causing a shock to the Vietnamese M&A market.

SCG buys Prime Group for VND5 trillion

Prime Group is a multi-sector organisation, operating mainly involved in real estate and the production of construction materials, particularly ashlar paving stones. It accounts for 20% of the domestic market for ashlar paving stone.


Prime's ashlar paving stones 

Thailand’s Siam Cement Group (SCG) focuses primarily on five areas: petro-chemistry, paper, cement, material construction and distribution.

Recently, SCG appraised Prime Group at USD280 million, much higher than its real value. 

Prime Group’s shareholders decided to sell 85% of their stake to the Thai firm.

SCG considers Vietnam as a strategic market and has expanded been expanding their operations in Vietnam since 1992. To date, it has 17 businesses in Vietnam, with total revenues of USD300 million per year.

NawaPlastic buys stake of Binh Minh Plastic and Tien Phong Plastic

In Mid-2012, NawaPlastic owned by Thai Plastic and Chemicals bought 16.7% of Binh Minh Plastic’s stake and 22.7% of Tien Phong Plastic’s stake. The Thai company expects to become a big shareholder in these two Vietnamese firms.

Binh Minh and Tien Phong are Vietnam’s leading plastics companies.

Wilmar and the Vietnamese cooking oil market

Currently, Wilmar is the world's largest company for processing and trading palm oil, with the distribution network spanning more than 50 countries. In China, it is the biggest producer of bottled cooking oil products, making up roughly 50% of the market share.

Wilmar currently holds 68% of Vietnam’s Cai Lan Oils and Fats Industries Company (Calofic), which accounts for over 55% of the domestic bottled cooking oils on the market.

Wilmar also has another Vietnamese affiliate, Wilmar Agro Vietnam, located in Can Tho which specialises in rice bran for animal feed. 

Ayala expands operations in HCM City

Ayala, one of the biggest groups in the Philippines with total assets of USD8.5 billion, acts in real estate, clean water supply and distribution, banking and telecom.

After participating in some projects to mitigate water loss in HCM City, in December 2011, Ayala bought back 49% of BOO Thu Duc Water JSC from Ho Chi Minh City Infrastructure Investment JSC (CII) at USD42.6 million.

In April 2012, General Director of Ayala’s subsidiary Manila Water, Mr. Gerardo C. Ablaza, was selected to be a member of CII’s board of directors. In May 2012, Ayala’s subsidiary bought a 10% stake in CII. Manila Water is also a partner of CII and Ho Chi Minh City Finance and Investment (HFIC), a state-owned company involved in water plant and distribution network construction.

Jollibee controls Highlands Coffee and Pho 24

After acquiring a controlling stake in Pho 24, Vietnam’s popular Highlands Coffee quickly sold 50% of Pho 24’s shares to the Philippines’ Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC). The transaction, worth USD25 million was made through Jollibee Worldwide, a subsidiary of JFC. According to some news sources, this is said to be an initial step in the plan for JFC to take over both Highlands Coffee and Pho 24. 

Maybank plans to set up the first foreign-invested securities firm in Vietnam

In August 2012, Kim Eng Vietnam Securities Joint Stock Company (KEVS), was renamed into Maybank Kim Eng Securities Joint Stock Company. Now Maybank Kim Eng Holding Singapore, a subdiary of Singapore’s Maybank owns 49% of the total capital at Maybank Kim Eng Securities Joint Stock Company in Vietnam, with the rest is held by four domestic investors. However, Maybank has plans to take control of the entire Joint Stock Company, which would make it wholly foreign-owned securities firm in Vietnam.

 

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