New Investment Wave of Chinese Enterprises Through M&A

  Chinese investors are promoting activities such as invest and set up business in Vietnam. In particular, they are increasing their presence in Vietnam through M&A activities, especially in the real estate sector.

Sharing with Chinese businesses attending the recent conference about opportunities to invest in Vietnam, Mr Chen De Hai - Consulate General of China in Ho Chi Minh City said that since 2016 until now, the investment capital of Chinese enterprises into Vietnam increased sharply, production capacity is expanding, and the number of large investment projects are increasing.

No specific information on where these projects are invested, but Mr. Chen De Hai said that the investment portfolio is quite diversified and the investment capital of many projects is not small. There are projects ranging from several hundred million to more than 2 billion USD and investment in areas such as thermal power, wind power, solar cell production, textiles, tire production...

According to data from the Foreign Investment Agency (Ministry of Planning and Investment), in 2017, China's committed investment capital ranks 4th among countries and territories investing in Vietnam. This is a very new development because in the past few years, China has rarely been in the top 5 foreign investors with large amount of investment capital into Vietnam.

2017 also recorded many M&A transactions of Chinese enterprises with partners in Vietnam in the field of real estate.

However, there are indications showing that not only investment through M&A and focus only on real estate, but Chinese enterprises will increase investment in manufacturing in Vietnam.

It is known that the investment activities of enterprises in the field of textile, fiber and leather footwear are in the roadmap to adjust the industry policy of China and are encouraged to invest abroad.

Meanwhile, Chinese businesses want to invest in Vietnam to take advantage of tax incentives when exporting to the US market or European countries because Vietnam has signed many free trade agreements with these countries.

A demonstration of this move is that the Bank of China - Ho Chi Minh City Branch, and Shenzhen Securities Information Co., Ltd (under Shenzhen Stock Exchange) in December 2017 has signed a contract in order to promote the attraction of Chinese investment capital into Vietnam.

According to many analysts, China's new wave of investment in such manufacturing sectors as steel, textiles, fiber, furniture…, is a story that can happen in the near future.