Is Apple About to Set-up Company in Vietnam?

In the August 2015 work plan of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, it has been recently revealed that a section to review the registration of a company named Apple Vietnam company limited. Is it the American multinational teconology company with its famous products i.e. Mac, Ipod, Iphone, Ipad, Apple watch…about to set-up company in Vietnam to promote and distribute its own products i.e. the upcoming Iphone 6s, and Iphone 6s plus?

According to the information from the official dealer of Apple in Vietnam, Apple has already had a representative in Vietnam and began contacting with agents in the country from early 2015. The current business activities of Apple with domestic partners are done through Apple Thailand. Therefore, Apple’s representative in Vietnam will help to smooth out this arrangement because of the better understanding the local market and no language barrier.

Although Apple has not had their representative office or official company in Vietnam but they have many authorized dealers to sell its products. Apple products like the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have always led the top 10 selling phones in many domestic retail systems since its launching in late 2014. According to the statistic of IDC, in the first quarter of 2015, Apple ranked 2nd in value in the largest smart phone manufacturers in Vietnam; in the tablet market, Apple accounted for 16.6% of the market – ranked 2nd in the market – but accounted for 29.1%, the highest in terms of market value.

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TPP Helps Vietnam Become an Important Base in The World Production Chain

Vietnam is considered to be the biggest beneficiary country of the 12 countries participating in the TPP.

The fact that countries which have large markets like the US, Japan and Canada reducing import tax to 0% for Vietnam goods will create tremendous boost to export of Vietnam. Particularly the textile industry, turnover could increase significantly.

The textile and footwear industries, the agricultural, forestry and fishery goods of Vietnam will have the opportunity to increase export significantly.

Joining TPP will also help Vietnam and other countries to have new opportunities from new supply chain, which will be formed after TPP takes effect. TPP countries currently account for 40% of global GDP and 30% of global trade. Moreover, it includes major markets such as USA, Japan which will certainly open up many opportunities when the new supply chain formed.

Accordingly, a number of corporations and large companies in the world have considered investing in Vietnam with the goal of making Vietnam become one of the important bases in their production chain. Joining TPP will help this trend grow stronger, which is an important condition for Vietnam to step on stage to develop new industries with higher technological contents.

The commitments in TPP in service and investment are also expected to have a positive effect in improving the investment environment, contribute to attracting foreign investment. Many studies confirm that foreign investment will increase as TPP takes effect.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade said that Vietnam enterprises will also can join into the public procurement market in the United States, Japan, Canada… According to the data from the US, the market for public procurement of this country is about 10-12 billion USD each year. This is an attractive distribution channel for export goods from Vietnam.

The completion and strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights will open opportunities to attract investment in sectors with high knowledge content, such as pharmaceutical manufacturing, including bio-medicine and especially vaccine.

TPP will create condition for enhancing growth, creating job and increasing income, contributing to poverty alleviation, improving the quality of human resources and health care for the community.

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Will Vietnam Become The Silicon Valley of South East Asia?

15 years ago, it was hard to find an information technology (IT) company in Vietnam, but now there are nearly 14,000 IT enterprises that produce and develop hardware, software and digital. The Government of Vietnam considered high-tech industry as one of the pillars to promote economic growth of the country. Vietnam has invested heavily in the construction of infrastructure and adopts economic policies to encourage both domestic and foreign enterprises to invest and do business in Vietnam.

Besides, Vietnam has more than 90 million in population with average age of over 30 years old, in which the number of programmers, engineers, young entrepreneurs and students are increasing, that will be the effort to promote economic growth and technological innovation in the country.

More than 20 years ago, the leading technology corporation IBM has opened an office in Da Nang in 1992 and then opened in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City in 1994. Also in 2012, Da Nang was recognized by IBM as one of 33 most dynamic cities in the world and was awarded by the company with 50 million USD under the program to support the improvement of infrastructure in three years time.

Many hi-tech parks are established under the IT projects of Vietnam in 2020 that has been responsive to the growing demand for infrastructure for hardware manufacturing, companies producing software and international information technology… This is giving the central city of Vietnam strength to become a center of high-tech boom.

Moreover, three largest IT universities in Vietnam (that are located in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City) are the main workforce for the high-tech zone with hundreds of IT students graduating each year. Many young engineers were recruited immediately to famous companies such as Cisco, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, Intel, LG, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba.

In October 2015, the Vietnam IT Conference will be held in Ho Chi Minh City with the attendance of representatives from 150 multinational IT companies, along with more than 200 IT companies from Vietnam and 20 universities. There will be speeches from Gartner, KPMG, HP, LogiGear, Microsoft, Samsung. This is the chance for Vietnam IT industry to present to the world and everyone will witness the boom of the Vietnam IT industry.

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US Billionaire Mark Mobius Expanding Investment in Vietnam

US billionaire Mark Mobius – one of the most famous investor in the world visited Vietnam to seek and expand investment through M&A in Vietnam.

In the world, billionaire Mark Mobius is considered one of the best investors of the 20thcentury, alongside names such as Warren Buffett, George Soros and Julian Robertson.

During this business trip to Vietnam, Mark Mobius met partners in potential areas such as banking, logistic services. Till now, the Fund entitled Franklin Templaton by Mark Mobius as chairman has invested nearly 300 million USD (equivalent to nearly 6,000 billion VND) in Vietnam.

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Benefits of Setting up Business in Hanoi

Benefits of Setting up Business in Da Nang

Benefits of Setting up Business in Ho Chi Minh City

Assistance in Setting up Business in Vietnam

M&A Services in Vietnam

In particular, billionaire Mark Mobius has declared that Franklin Templeton Investment Fund may invest 3 billion USD to Vietnam market in the coming time. This figure is equivalent to 1/10 of the total GDP of Vietnam in 2014.

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Pharmaceutical and healthcare in Vietnam

Vietnam is a large and fast growing population, which is expected to reach 96 million by 2019, and it will continue to attract the interest of foreign players. Although the country’s regulatory environment will remain fairly challenging, the introduction of global standards for manufacturing and pharmacy distribution will improve the market value. 

Globally, Vietnam ranks 66th out of 83 countries surveyed in our ever-expanding pharmaceutical universe. Valued at US$1.54bn in 2009, it is expected the Vietnamese pharmaceutical market to post a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.03% in local currency terms (14.80% in US dollars), to reach a value of US$3.07bn in 2014. At over US$33 in 2014, spending per capita will have almost doubled in five years, with further growth expected through to 2019. Over the ten-year forecast period, overall market CAGR will slow somewhat (to 12.79% in local currency), due to a higher uptake of cheaper, domestically-produced medicines, patent expirations and likely measures to reduce consumption in government hospitals, as the government deals with budget deficits.

In common with many of its regional neighbors, the Vietnamese pharmaceutical market is underdeveloped and suffers from poor regulatory and intellectual property (IP) standards, which have held back foreign investment in the country. Low-cost, locally-produced generics – as well as counterfeit products – account for a sizeable proportion of drug consumption due to low consumer purchasing power and an under-funded healthcare system. Uneven and inadequate public insurance coverage means that patients are responsible for financing many of their medical needs, which in the past has hampered stronger market growth. Consequently, pharmaceutical consumption represents only 1.7% of Vietnam’s GDP, although we expect this figure to top 2% from 2014.

Moreover, membership of the WTO will serve to promote the development of Vietnam’s pharmaceutical sector as well as to reduce the role of counterfeit trade. The domestic industry, traditionally characterized by poor manufacturing standards and obsolete facilities, is likely to undergo a wave of consolidation in the face of rising pressure – and associated costs – on companies to implement international GMP standards. Additionally, WTO membership will have a positive effect on the sector as it encourages imports and foreign direct investment (FDI) and improves operational efficiency in what has traditionally been an overly bureaucratic and

less than dynamic industry.

Prescription medicines will remain dominant over the next five years, with the biggest focus on drugs for the treatment of infectious and chronic diseases. The over-the-counter (OTC) sector has the potential to be boosted by the re-categorisation of popular traditional medicines, although presently there are no such plans. In the meantime, market figures will remain distorted by the lack of a distinction made between prescription and OTC drugs, with most medicines available without a prescription.

Vietnamese drug makers account for only 40% of the total medicines market, while the country imports around 90% of the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) used in drug production. However, capacity is improving gradually, and in Q409 the government announced its aim to ensure that 60% of domestic demand is met by local pharmaceutical companies during 2010. At the start of 2005, there were more than 10,000 kinds of medicines registered for sale in Vietnam, of which some 60% were produced locally. The figures represent a marked improvement on 1995 when the local sector produced only 80 substances, as well as on 2002, when 384 products were manufactured.

Vietnam’s pharmaceutical market was valued at around VND27,351bn (US$1.54bn) in 2009. Over the next five years, BMI forecasts that the market should grow at a CAGR of 16.0% in local currency terms to reach a value of VND57,515bn (US$3.07bn) in 2014. BMI’s long-range forecast is for the market to reach VND91,166bn (US$5.61bn) in 2019, equating to a CAGR of 12.8%.

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Can Vietnam Become a New Production Center of The World?

Vietnam now is a machining and production center, just behind Singapore on the total investment amount of China.

China is following the model of the Japanese economy and then has higher production costs. Therefore, Chinese enterprises are now diverting into neighboring countries to find the location for new manufacturing facilities.

With great potential for growth, young population structure and lower wage costs, Vietnam will benefit from the development of infrastructure associated with competition for positions in regional influence between China and other major economies.

This is an opportunity for Vietnam to improve its position in the value chain by becoming a global center of production of low-value commodities.

To enhance accessing to investment capitals, becoming a center of manufacturing, global outsourcing and enhancing the position in the value chain, in the long term, Vietnam will actively screening the list of projects FDI under the strategy and development-oriented by the Government.

Vietnam needs to invest in education and training to develop workforce skills. In addition, Vietnam also needs to focus more on investment in environmental infrastructure, especially in transportation and services.

Along with the continuous integration in ASEAN and by the importance of this region for the 4 largest economies in the world, Vietnam has many advantages to attract multinational companies to invest in order to take use existing opportunities of Southeast Asia area.

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FDI Wave from the UK into Ho Chi Minh City

UK businesses are gradually becoming the largest investors in Vietnam.

The southern key industrial zone (SKEZ) including Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and neighboring provinces such as Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Long An and Ba Ria – Vung Tau.

SKEZ include 106 active industrial zones with a total area of 33,500ha. Those industrial parks have the advantage that lie near the highway, intercity road, seaport and international airport.

HCMC is the economic center of SKEZ, therefore this is the area that always receives the largest amount of FDI projects.

According to Savills Vietnam, in the first half of 2015, UK businesses have invested the most in HCMC, accounted for 59% of total FDI capitals, followed by investors from the British Virgin Islands (15%) and South Korea ranks 3rd (10%).

HCMC has 16 active industrial parks, operating with 2,300ha leased land, attracted 425 million USD from FDI, increase by 50% compared with 2014.

Currently, HCMC has announced plans to open 7 new industrial parks, with a total area of around 2,000 ha to welcome FDI inflows in the textile, service and food processing industries.

Moreover, in recent years, HCMC has adopted preferential tax policies to encourage new businesses operating in the high-tech industry and related scientific disciplines.

Especially in infrastructure development, in order to welcome foreign investors, infrastructure of the city has been growing rapidly with many underway projects, such as the HCMC – Long Thanh highway, the metro 1 and the belt roads of the city.

In early 2016, two key roads will begin construction includes the belt road no.3 connecting Nhon Trach District, Dong Nai and Ben Luc – Long Thanh highway.

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How to Enter Financial Services Market in Vietnam

As the Vietnam economy continues to grow, financial services as well grows to keep up.  When most parts of the world were hit by global financial crisis in 2009, Vietnam was one of a few that enjoyed positive growth rate and HSBC in its Vietnam monitor issue volume 28 projected 7.2% growth in 2010.

The Vietnam financial market has been developing however still at immature stage.  The Vietnam stock market is one of the channel to raise capital for the development and it is getting more active, attracting investors from South East Astia.  There are more than one hundred securities companies founded to compete in the growing market in 2010.  Top ten companies control more than 50% of the market share in brokerage fee.  In the year 2008 and 2009, many companies have been suffering due to tough competition, poor management, bad market situation impacted by global financial crisis and lack of governance experience from Vietnam State Securities Commission.

According to World Trade Ornatization access commitments, the Vietnam securities company can be 100% owned by foreign firms by the year 2012.  The competition amongst players will be getting more fierce.  Japan is interested in acquiring Vietnam securities companies.

Financial services are typical products therefore owning some characteristics of its own kinds.  Consumer purchasing behaviour is greatly influenced by the type of financial product being purchased.  The emphasis of trust and having relationship, especially in the particular contracting contexts, are also of highly pertinent to the strategies of financial service providers (Beckett et al., 2000).  Corporate reputation dimensions associated with important variables encompassing of customer satisfaction, loyalty, trust, and word of mouth (Walsh et al., 2009) are also factors of considerations beside price, service quality, and relationships ( Bowman et al., 2000), convenience.

The study of how investors behave when it comes to decision of which securities companies to go with shall give insights into the buying behaviour of financial services in Vietnam and would add to the limited research in the area.

With rapid change and more sophisticated customers, it has become very important that financial institutions determine the factors which are pertinent to the customers’ selection process (Boyd et al., 1994) when considering entering Vietnam securities market.

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Foreign Corporations Want to Invest in The Vietnam Seaports

Sebrina Group Holdings Ltd (Singapore) expressed their desire to seek more opportunities for cooperation between the Group and the Ministry of Transport of Vietnam in the near future; they also showed their interest in the projects to build seaport in Vietnam…

At the meeting with Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang on September 3rd, Mr. Nasrat Muzayyin – CEO and Co-founder of Sebrina Group Holdings Ltd (Singapore) expressed his desire to seek more cooperation opportunities between the Group and the Ministry of Transport of Vietnam in the coming time.

Accordingly, Sebrina Holdings is a strong business in the energy sector. The Group wants to find out traffic projects related to energy in Vietnam. Simultaneously, the Group also expressed interest in the projects to build seaport in Vietnam.

Presently, Vietnam needs to develop breakthrough many sectors, in which transportation infrastructure is seen as one of the bottlenecks that need to develop rapidly in the future.

On that basis, the Minister appreciated the interest of foreign investors, including the Sebrina Group Holdings Ltd and pledged to create favorable conditions for investors to access to essential information about projects for researching and investment in developing the transportation infrastructure in Vietnam.

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The UK Entreprises Encouraged to Explore the Potential Market in Vietnam

In addition to improvement of the business environment in Vietnam, Deputy Foreign Minister Hugo Swire also affirmed that Vietnam and UK will plan to raise awareness for the UK investors about potential business market in Vietnam.

Talking to the press after the Vietnam – UK 4th annual strategic dialogue in Hanoi today (February 27th), Mr. Hugo Swire said, one of the highlights of the conference is how to strengthen bilateral trade relations.  According to him, a number of the businesses of the UK have succeeded in Vietnam but the UK wants more and more enterprises to be successful in Vietnam in the future.  To do this, the improvement in business environment is one of the problems the UK stressed many times before. Mr. Hugo Swire said that transparency and openness of Vietnam are still big challenges affecting the decision for UK enterprises to invest in Vietnam.  Besides, another fact acknowledged by Mr Hugo Swire is that many businesses in the UK have not understood the potential markets in Vietnam.

Therefore, during the dialogue taken place today, he said, Vietnam and the UK have discussed a program to raise awareness of UK businesses in London to Vietnam market.  According to Mr Hugo Swire, the completion of free trade agreement between Vietnam and the EU will open up many prospects to attract British investors to Set-up company in Vietnam.

“These problems, if be solved, they will bring to resonance as well as open new horizons for UK businesses to enter into Vietnam,” said Deputy Foreign Minister.

Reviewing more specific about the Vietnam market, he also said, high-end consumer goods is one of the prioritized potentials for businesses of both countries.

According to him, many designers in the UK now want to introduce products to Vietnam and this may be a priority in the coming time. According to him, four other areas in which the Uk interested are education, energy, especially nuclear energy, health, transportation and infrastructure.

According to Mr Hugo Swire, a detailed plan to strengthen relations and cooperation between the two countries on these issues will be discussed in more detail at the annual meeting of the Joint Committee on Economic Cooperation in the future.

Also on bilateral cooperation, Deputy Foreign Minister said the capital of official development assistance (ODA) will end in 2016 but the UK is committed to continue the support for Vietnam by other methods.

One of the forms of assistance is Newton fund currently being deployed in Vietnam to invest in the fields of science and technology, particularly creative ideas, innovation.

According to Hugo Swire, the UK and Vietnam are still under discussion for formal cooperation framework to help the Newton fund operating efficiently. However, representatives from the UK said, one of the activities of the program is the exchange of scientists between the two countries , thus supporting the implementation of the research to develop economics and society.

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Family Office Services

Vietnam has been considered as an attractive fit for family offices.

The Vietnam’s stock market has been around fifteen ten years. Fund certificates in various forms are available such as close ended fund, open ended fund, Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). Foreign investors are now allowed to hold up to 49% shares in a listed company and this room has been in the process to change in the near future. Although Vietnam market is considered small for pension funds or the similar, this market is a right fit for family offices.

Further, foreigners are now allowed to make direct investment, hold 100% and conduct business in most areas after the new investment law’s effective date of Jul 1st, 2015. The real estate law has been passed with effective on the same date with new investment law, allowing foreigners entering Vietnam to buy real estate.

We are a local professional management consulting firm with family office service that assist foreign clients with asset management and consolidated reporting of all the family’s assets.

In particular, we provide wealth management and tax planning, trustee and corporate services, and support with indirect investment, direct investment, real estate and family governance.

We are your consultants and we could act as nominee shareholder, nominee director, or provide management service that help you achieve the goal, and stay in private status at the same time.

We look forward to helping you find the family office services you need in Vietnam.

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Will Vietnam Become The Silicon Valley of South East Asia?

15 years ago, it was hard to find an information technology (IT) company in Vietnam, but now there are nearly 14,000 IT enterprises that produce and develop hardware, software and digital. The Government of Vietnam considered high-tech industry as one of the pillars to promote economic growth of the country. Vietnam has invested heavily in the construction of infrastructure and adopts economic policies to encourage both domestic and foreign enterprises to invest and do business in Vietnam.

Besides, Vietnam has more than 90 million in population with average age of over 30 years old, in which the number of programmers, engineers, young entrepreneurs and students are increasing, that will be the effort to promote economic growth and technological innovation in the country.

More than 20 years ago, the leading technology corporation IBM has opened an office in Da Nang in 1992 and then opened in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City in 1994. Also in 2012, Da Nang was recognized by IBM as one of 33 most dynamic cities in the world and was awarded by the company with 50 million USD under the program to support the improvement of infrastructure in three years time.

Many hi-tech parks are established under the IT projects of Vietnam in 2020 that has been responsive to the growing demand for infrastructure for hardware manufacturing, companies producing software and international information technology… This is giving the central city of Vietnam strength to become a center of high-tech boom.

Moreover, three largest IT universities in Vietnam (that are located in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City) are the main workforce for the high-tech zone with hundreds of IT students graduating each year. Many young engineers were recruited immediately to famous companies such as Cisco, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, Intel, LG, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba.

In October 2015, the Vietnam IT Conference will be held in Ho Chi Minh City with the attendance of representatives from 150 multinational IT companies, along with more than 200 IT companies from Vietnam and 20 universities. There will be speeches from Gartner, KPMG, HP, LogiGear, Microsoft, Samsung. This is the chance for Vietnam IT industry to present to the world and everyone will witness the boom of the Vietnam IT industry

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Vietnam Is the Focus of Foreign Investors

With favorable conditions in macroeconomic, political and social, Vietnam is a potential destination for setting up company and conduct the M&A activity.

In Vietnam, the growth of the retail market and the entry of international brands, while the average income of consumers is increasing along with stable economic conditions are creating motivation for retail market. In addition, e-commerce sector is growing and accounts for a large part of total retail sales, although traditional forms of shopping still being preferred by consumers.

Moreover, the liberalization of the retail market in 2009 created favorable condition for foreign brands to join and domestic brands are constantly expanding in order to maintain market presence. The most developing sectors of the retail segment are food & beverage (F&B) and consumer products.

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Benefits of Setting up Business in Hanoi

Benefits of Setting up Business in Da Nang

Benefits of Setting up Business in Ho Chi Minh City

Assistance in Setting up Business in Vietnam

M&A Services in Vietnam

Vietnam Retail Market

Prospect for the Asian retail market is very positive, the average growth rate in retail sales is 8.5% in the last 5 years. The number of tourist increases is promoting retail activity in the shopping venues with a prime and convenient location. Although the development of e-commerce in the region is now very noticeable, but the traditional forms of shopping still has an important position in the market. The store owner will need to focus on improving the shopping environment and concerning about the customer experience in order to increase competitiveness.

According to Cushman & Wakefield, in the next 5 to 7 years, approximately 1.5 million m2 of retail floor space will enter the Ho Chi Minh City market of retail space, bringing the total number of retail area to nearly 2.5 million m2. The retail market will be busy, especially in the affordable and intermediate segments. The powerful foreign retail corporations will consider Vietnam as potential market in the region, demonstrating that in the period 2014 – 2015, the retail and consumer goods are the mainstream of M&A activity in the world, accounting for 36% of the total value of M&A activity in Vietnam.

In addition, Vietnam ranked 32nd in the list of nations that have the shopping streets with the most expensive rent cost in the world, in the context of Vietnam is preparing to join a series of free trade agreements such as AEC and TPP, then this will cause domestic retailers to face with many difficulties because rent cost plays the 2nd important role (after the location) in business strategy. When foreign retailers have strong financial resources, they can afford to hire premises with the most favorable location in the market.

Vietnam Tourism Real Estate Market

Many promient investors have visited Vietnam to explore the market potential. In the real estate segment, Kevin Green, one of British’s leading millionaires has just come to Vietnam to experience the market. He interested in tourism real estate and especially Sapa when the Hanoi – Lao Cai highway has completed. Moreover, the Fansipan cable car when completed will attract huge number of tourists to come here. Convenient transportation is a golden opportunity for tourism real estate.

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US Billionaire Mark Mobius Expanding Investment in Vietnam

Billionaire Richard Branson Comes to Vietnam

Investor Thomas Kramer plans to visit Vietnam in July 2013

Sapa is currently attracting around 2.5 million visitors. This figure is expected to rise to 5 million in 2020 due to infrastructure connections between Sapa and other areas are increasingly improved.

When talking about investment opportunities in tourism real estate in Sapa, Kevin Green said that Sapa has a lot of potentials for investment. He interested in the resort project “Sapa Jade Hill”, which is currently being developed. He also works with investors to be able to offer this product to abroad market, while completing the procedure to purchase Sapa Jade Hill villa for long term investment.

Reportedly, Sapa Jade Hill is a key project in Sapa, developed by Truong Giang Sapa and by Dai Hung Investment and International Trade JSC (GBI Land) with a total investment of nearly 2,000 billion USD. This project has completed Phase 1 with 19 service villas, which was sold out and handed over the red book to customer.

In addition, in the Property Expo Conference was held in Hanoi, Kevin Green and enrichment experts have shown a huge shift of capital flow from foreign companies, factories to Vietnam, then this is the most ideal place for real estate investment within the next 5 -10 years. The employment index is an indicator of the increase in value of real estate, as the number of workers in the industrial zone of Vietnam is on the rise.

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Can Vietnam Become a New Production Center of The World?

Vietnam now is a machining and production center, just behind Singapore on the total investment amount of China.

China is following the model of the Japanese economy and then has higher production costs. Therefore, Chinese enterprises are now diverting into neighboring countries to find the location for new manufacturing facilities.

With great potential for growth, young population structure and lower wage costs, Vietnam will benefit from the development of infrastructure associated with competition for positions in regional influence between China and other major economies.

This is an opportunity for Vietnam to improve its position in the value chain by becoming a global center of production of low-value commodities.

To enhance accessing to investment capitals, becoming a center of manufacturing, global outsourcing and enhancing the position in the value chain, in the long term, Vietnam will actively screening the list of projects FDI under the strategy and development-oriented by the Government.

Vietnam needs to invest in education and training to develop workforce skills. In addition, Vietnam also needs to focus more on investment in environmental infrastructure, especially in transportation and services.

Along with the continuous integration in ASEAN and by the importance of this region for the 4 largest economies in the world, Vietnam has many advantages to attract multinational companies to invest in order to take use existing opportunities of Southeast Asia area.

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Foreign Capital Poured Strongly into Ho Chi Minh City

It has been reported the foreign direct investment (FDI) is strong up to the end of August 2015.  The trend of foreign investors relocating manufacturing site to Vietnam, build factory,and make direct investment through setting up company or business venture has been progressively realized thanks to Vietnam’s policy welcoming FDI and the uncertainties of China.

There are 249 newly registered projects in the form of 100% foreign investment capital, reaching USD 744 million; 78 joint venture projects reaching USD 1,573.6 million.

In terms of investment sector, Vietnam real estate sector topped in the capital pouring in Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam with 5 projects and the capital reached USD 1,428.4 million, accounting for 61.6% of total newly registered capital, 41 industrial projects with USD 585.7 million (25.3%).  In the third place is the financial and service sector with 90 projects and USD 116 million investment capital (5%); education and training with 8 projects at USD 71.3 million investment capital (3.1%); 53 information and communication projects at 20 million USD investment capital; 17 transport and warehouse projects…

The demographic of investors are diverse.  There are 35 countries and territories having investment projects in Ho Chi Minh City. In particular, United Kingdom following the recent visit of British Prime Minister has 5 projects with investment capital of USD 1,201.4 million (accounting for 51.8% of total investment in Ho Chi Minh City); British Virgin Islands have 7 projects, at USD 306.5 million investment capital (13.2%); South Korea with 71 projects, at USD 232.8 million investment capital (10%); Singapore has 52 projects with USD 107.6 million investment capital (4.6%); Japan has 57 projects, investment capital of 29.9 million USD; Hong Kong has 13 projects, investment capital of 47.8 million USD (2.1%).

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Assistance to Set-up Business in Vietnam

Foreign investors could make direct investment in Vietnam through setting up one hundred per cent (100%) capital of foreign investors, or establishing joint venture between domestic and foreign investors, or  investing in the contractual forms of: BCC, BO, BTO, and BT.

Types of enterprise for foreign investors to invest in Vietnam are as following:

a)     Set-up Limited Liability Company in Vietnam

Limited Liability Company is a form of enterprise which is established by contributing of members.  A member shall be liable for the debts and other property obligations of the enterprise within the amount of capital that it has undertaken to contribute to the enterprise.

Limited liability companies are regulated by two types:

–          One member Limited Liability Company is an enterprise owned by one organization or individual;

–          Limited Liability Company with two or more members is an enterprise owned by organizations or individuals, in which the number of members shall not less than two members and not exceed fifty.

Organizational and management structure of Limited Liability Company normally comprise of a Member’s Council, General Director or Director.

b)     Set-up Joint Stock Company in Vietnam

Joint Stock Company is an enterprise which has charter capital divided into equal portions called shares.   The minimum number of shareholders shall be three and there shall be no restriction on the maximum number.

Shareholders shall be liable for the debts and other property obligations of the enterprise only within the amount of capital contributed to the enterprise.

Joint Stock Companies may issue all types of securities to raise funds.  Founding shareholders must together register to subscribe at least twenty per cent (20%) of the number of ordinary shares which may be offered for sale.

The main difference between Joint Stock Company and Limited Liability Company is the Joint Stock Company can raise funds by offering shares or securities.  In addition, an enterprise tends to join the Stock exchanges or public company must be a Joint Stock Company.  Management system of Joint Stock Company is more complicated than Liability Company.

c)     Set-up Partnership in Vietnam

A partnership is an enterprise which must be at least two members being co-owners of the company jointly conducting business under one common name.  In addition to unlimited liability partners, there may be limited liability partners.

Unlimited liability partners must be individuals who shall be liable for the obligations of the company to the extent of all of their assets.  Limited liability partners shall only be liable for the debts of the company to the extent of the amount of capital they have contributed to the company.

d)     Set-up Representative Office of Foreign Trader in Vietnam

A foreign business entity or a foreign trader is allowed to establish Representative Office in Vietnam.

Representative office of a foreign business entity in Vietnam (referred as “Representative Office”) means a subsidiary unit of the foreign business entity, established in accordance with the law of Vietnam in order to survey markets and to undertake a number of commercial enhancement activities permitted by the law of Vietnam.

Representative Office will need to apply and obtain the establishment license; and have a seal bearing the name of the representative office.

Representative Office is not allowed to directly conduct profit making activities in Vietnam (i.e: the execution of contracts, direct payment or receipt of funds, sale or purchase of goods, or provision of services), but the representative Office is permitted to

• To operate strictly in accordance with the purposes, scope and duration stated in the license for establishment of such representative office;
• To rent offices and to lease or purchase the equipment and facilities necessary for the operation of the Representative Office;
• To recruit Vietnamese and foreign employees to work for the Representative Office in accordance with the law of Vietnam;
• To open accounts in foreign currency and in Vietnamese Dong sourced from foreign currency at banks which are licensed to operate in Vietnam, and to use such accounts solely for the operation of the Representative Office.

e)     Set-up Branch of Foreign Trader in Vietnam

The Branch of a foreign business entity in Vietnam (referred as “The Branch”) means a subsidiary unit of the foreign business entity, established in accordance with the law of Vietnam in order to enter into contracts in Vietnam and conduct activities being the purchase and sale of goods and other commercial activities consistent with its license for establishment in accordance with the law of Vietnam and any international treaty to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member.

The Branch will need to apply and obtain the establishment license; and have a seal bearing the name of the Branch.

The Branch is permitted to conduct activities being the purchase and sale of goods and other commercial activities consistent with its license for establishment in accordance with the law of Vietnam and any international treaty to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member.

f)      Investment by Signing Contracts in Vietnam

Business co-operation contract (BCC) means the investment form signed between investors in order to co-operate in business and to share profits or products without creating a legal entity.

Build-operate-transfer contract (BOT) means the investment form signed by a competent State body and an investor in order to construct and operate commercially an infrastructure facility for a fixed duration; and, upon expiry of the duration, the investor shall, without compensation, transfer such facility to the State of Vietnam.

Build-transfer-operate contract (BTO) means the investment form signed by a competent State body and an investor in order to construct an infrastructure facility; and, upon completion of construction, the investor shall transfer the facility to the State of Vietnam and the Government shall grant the investor the right to operate commercially such facility for a fixed duration in order to recover the invested capital and gain profits.

Build-transfer contract (BT) means the investment form signed by a competent State body and an investor in order to construct an infrastructure facility; and, upon completion of construction, the investor shall transfer the facility to the State of Vietnam and the Government shall create conditions for the investor to implement another project in order to recover the invested capital and gain profits or to make a payment to the investor in accordance with an agreement in the BT contract.

Foreign investors may sign BOT, BT and BTO contracts with a competent State body to implement infrastructure construction projects in Vietnam. Typically, the contracts are for projects in the fields of transportation, electricity production, water supply, drainage and waste treatment.

The rights and obligations of the foreign investor will be regulated by the signed BOT, BT and BTO contract. The Government encourages both public- and private-sector investors to participate in BOT, BTO and BT in the following sectors:

(i)              Construction, operation and management of brand-new infrastructure facilities; and

(ii)             Renovation, expansion, modernization, operation and management of the existing infrastructure facilities such as:

•     Roads, bridges, tunnels, and ferry landings;

•     Railway bridges and railway tunnels;

•     Airports, seaports and river ports;

•     Clean water supply systems; sewage systems;

•     Wastewater, waste collecting and handling systems;

•     Power plants and power transmission lines;

•     Infrastructure works of health service, education, training, career training, culture, sport and offices of State agencies; and

•     Other projects as may be determined by the Prime Minister

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