After Idemitsu Kosan opened its first filling station in Hanoi, the Japanese investor planned to set up another one in Hai Phong City. Meanwhile, PV Oil and Binh Son Refinery (BSR) are preparing for their IPOs in early 2018. All these factors show that changes in the petroleum distribution market will occur and the dominance by Vietnamese distributors is over. BSR plans to have an IPO on HOSE in mid-January. A 49% BSR stake will be sold to strategic shareholders, Vietnamese or foreign. According to Tran Ngoc Nguyen, CEO of BSR, many foreign names can be found on the list of investors showing interest in BSR shares. These include World Petro (the US), Rosneft (Russia), SK Group (the Republic of Korea), PTT (Thailand), Kuwait national oil & gas group and MacronPetro (Africa). With the IPO date on January 25, PV Oil announced it will sell a 65% stake. This means that the state will hold a 35% stake of the big distributor. Under the Enterprise Law, if holding a 36% stake or more, the state, as founding shareholder, will have the right to veto decisions by the board of directors. However, with the plan to retain a 35% stake, the state shows that it is willing to give the enterprise to strategic investors, including foreign ones. The events that occurred recently also show that foreign investors are step by step penetrating more deeply into the Vietnamese market. Idemitsu Kosan’s office chief representative Nobuyuki Nakamura had a meeting with Hai Phong… [Read full story]
At a workshop held on May 18, Vietnam’s top officials as well as economic experts discussed the opportunities and challenges facing Vietnam’s retail market. Overview of the market Vietnam is seen as a lucrative destination in the eyes of foreign investors as the country has a population of more than 90 million, of which young people account for 60 percent. Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai said at the workshop that Vietnam is listed the in top five Asian retail markets in terms of development speed. The country also ranks 28 on the global table of attractive retail markets.…... [read more]
While Vietnamese supermarket operators face low profits in its store chains, foreign investors from Malaysia and Hong Kong are more than eager to tap into the big potential of the country's supermarket business. Foreign investors have been keen on establishing supermarkets in Vietnam for three main reasons, said experts. First, Vietnam's annual retail and service revenue is fairly high at an estimated 20 billion USD, according to a recent survey. The survey also showed that up to 85 per cent of southern urban dwellers liked to shop at supermarkets. A second important factor is the country's stable and high economic…... [read more]
Vietnam may capture market share from Thai exports in areas including apparel, office machinery, and glass and plastic products, SCB Securities Co. said in a report on the two Southeast Asian nations earlier this week. Vietnamese exports rose 190 percent between 2002 and 2007, reaching US$48.4 billion last year from $16.7 billion five years earlier, according to figures from the General Statistics Office in Hanoi. Over the same period, Thai exports rose 121 percent to $152.5 billion from $68.9 billion, according to Thailand's Ministry of Commerce. Vietnam's total exports are still small and the overlap with the structure of foreign-bound…... [read more]
The State Bank of Vietnam, the central bank, has given and will grant licenses to foreign banks to set up 100 percent foreign-owned affiliates, but they will not find it easy to acquire market share, the New Hanoi newspaper reported. Foreign banks now account for 3.3 percent of outstanding loans in Vietnam dong and 21.7 percent of loans in foreign currencies among credit institutions in Vietnam. Despite quite high credit growth rates, foreign banks only focus on providing loans for foreign-invested companies and large-scaled domestic companies by financing imports and purchases of advanced technical equipments. Vietnamese customers also complained that foreign players have…... [read more]
BSR plans an IPO at HOSE (HCMC Stock Exchange) on January 17, putting an 8% stake on sale. After that it will sell a 49% stake to strategic investors. The State will hold no more than a 43% stake in BSR. PV Oil has also prepared for its IPO, though the exact date has not been announced. It will offer a 44.7% stake to strategic shareholders and allow foreign investors to buy up to a 49% stake as per current law. The two giants in the oil & gas industry – BSR (VND31 trillion in charter capital) and PV Oil…... [read more]
