Thai giant firms’ ambitions in Vietnam

In recent years, Thai businesses have been the most active players in mergers and acquisitions in Vietnam with many big deals worth billions of dollars.

Thailand’s SCG Group has just acquired a 70% stake in Duy Tan Plastic Manufacturing Joint Stock Company.

Recently, Thailand’s SCG Group announced the acquisition of a 70% stake in Duy Tan Plastic Manufacturing Joint Stock Company. Its subsidiary SCG Packaging (SCGP) will be the legal entity transferring shares.

The deal is part of SCG’s 10 billion baht ($334 million) investment plan to expand its business in Vietnam, a market that is in great demand and continues to increase in plastic packaging products. In its announcement, SCGP CEO Wichan Jitpukdee said that the company has been continuously increasing its investment in Vietnam and this brings revenue growth of more than 10% per year.

The potential of the Thai giant which has just acquired a 70% stake in Duy Tan Plastic

As a large corporation in Thailand with a long history, SCG has quickly expanded its operations to Vietnam as a strategic market since 1992. After 29 years, the group has had more than 20 deals of merger and acquisition, in which, the biggest deal must be mentioned is the acquisition of Prime Group.

Accordingly, at the end of December 2012, SCG signed an agreement to buy 85% stakes of Prime Group JSC for about $240 million. The acquisition of Prime Group not only helped SCG increase its presence in Vietnam but also helped it become the largest manufacturer of floor tiles in the world – with a record production of 225 million square meters per year.

In addition, through a subsidiary named Nawaplastic Industries (Saraburi) Co., Ltd, SCG bought a 20.4% stake of Binh Minh Plastic JSC (BMP) and a 23.84% stake of Tien Phong Plastic JSC (NTP).

In 2015, SCG continued to buy an 80% stake in Tin Thanh Plastic Packaging Joint Stock Company (Batico) for 1.5 billion baht (about $44.4 million).

Note that, prior to the deal with Duy Tan Plastics, in 2020, TCG Solutions Pte. Ltd (Singapore), a subsidiary of SCG, also officially received the transfer of more than 12 million shares of SVI, equivalent to 94.11% of Bien Hoa Packaging (SOVI) capital to consolidate its position in the field upstream packaging producer in Vietnam.

ThiPha Cable is the leading electric cable manufacturer in Vietnam

Stark Corporation acquired Thinh Phat Electric Cable for $240 million

In early April 2020, Stark Corporation issued an announcement stating that it had successfully purchased 100% shares of Thinh Phat Electrical Cable Joint Stock Company (Thipha Cables) and Vietnam Non-ferrous Metal and Plastic JSC (Dovina).

With the price of about VND66,667 per share of Thipha Cables and Dovina, the group from Thailand has paid $240 million for this deal.

It is known that Thipha Cables has a starting point as a small establishment founded by businessman Vo Tan Thinh (born in 1962) in 1987 in Ho Chi Minh City. After nearly 3 decades of development, Thipha Cables has become the second-largest electric wire and cable manufacturer in Vietnam. The enterprise also exports its products to a number of countries in Southeast Asia.

Therefore, through this deal, Stark Corporation is expected to increase the market size to become a leading enterprise in the region. And particularly in Vietnam, the demand for electric cables for grid projects as well as construction works is still very large.

Spending more than VND2,073 billion to acquire a 34% stake in the Duong River surface water plant is just one of WHA’s deals in Vietnam.

Dai Thai spent VND2,073 billion to buy shares of the Duong River clean water plant

At the end of October 2019, WHA Utilities & Power (WHAUP), a member of WHA Group (Thailand), unexpectedly announced the completion of the acquisition of a 34% stake in Song Duong Surface Water Joint Stock Company (NMN). Duong River) – investor of Song Duong surface water plant project with a capacity of 300,000 m3/day and night (phase 1) providing clean water for thousands of households in Hanoi. The amount that WHAUP spent on this deal is about VNDVND2,073 billion.

Although somewhat more private, in early 2019, WHAUP also invested in Cua Lo Water Supply Joint Stock Company (CL Wasco). CL Wasco is a company that has more than 20 years exploiting and managing domestic water supply and industrial production systems in Cua Lo town (Nghe An province) and some surrounding areas. In addition, CL Wasco is also the investor of the Cua Lo Water Plant Improvement and Expansion Project with capital-funded partly from an ODA loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

TCC Group invests heavily in Vietnam

Among the giants from Thailand, the one who poured the most money into the Vietnamese market must include Chinese Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi. Through TCC Holdings, this billionaire owns many large and small investments in Vietnam, worth billions of dollars from retail, beverages to real estate.

Specifically, in 2015, Berli Jucker – a member unit of TCC Holdings stood out to buy the Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam system from Metro Group (Germany) for nearly $900 million. Currently, this group has changed the name of the above retail system to Mega Market Vietnam.

Also, Berli Jucker himself acquired a 65% stake in Thai An Vietnam Joint Stock Company, the parent company owns more than 99% stake of Phu Thai Group – a large enterprise in the distribution and retail sector in the North with dozens of member companies.

Through TCC Holdings member companies, the Thai billionaire also owns 65% stake of Melia Hanoi Hotel, 75% stake in Melinh Point Tower Ho Chi Minh City Office; 70% stake of G Homes Housing Development Joint Stock Company – a member company of Anh Duong Thao Dien Commercial Investment Real Estate JSC (HAR) …

This billionaire is also behind Vietnam Beverage Co., Ltd., which spent VND110 trillion (approximately $4.8 billion) buying 53.59% stake of Sabeco shares and becoming the parent company of the manufacturer and consuming 41% of the market share of the Vietnamese beer.

In addition, through F&N Bev Manufacturing and F&N Dairy Investments (2 units of Singapore’s F&N Group, a subsidiary of TTC Holdings), the Thai billionaire has continuously increased his ownership in Vinamilk – a large capitalized enterprise on the Vietnamese market. Up to now, F&N holds more than 416 million shares of VNM, equivalent to 19.94% of Vinamilk’s charter capital.

Electronic supermarket chain Nguyen Kim.

Central Group and retail ambitions in Vietnam

Central Group is a multidisciplinary group of Thailand but concentrates mainly on retail and real estate. This group has expanded its international business before 2010, of which Vietnam is the second-largest retail market after Thailand.

This group is currently the owner of the Big C Vietnam supermarket chain with 35 “mega” supermarkets across the country. This chain of supermarkets was acquired from the Casino Group of France in April 2016 for more than $1 billion.

In addition, the Lan Chi Mart chain with 25 large and small supermarkets mainly located in the northern rural areas is also owned by Central Group.

Previously, through its subsidiary Power Buy, this Thai giant spent more than $200 million to buy a 49% stake of the Company for Investment and Development of New Technologies and Solutions for People with Disabilities (PWDs) – which owns the Company. Nguyen Kim Trading Company in 2015. By June 2019, Central Group, through its member company, purchased the entire 51% stake in NKT, thereby owning Nguyen Kim electronics supermarket chain and some other subsidiary.

This group, along with Nguyen Kim, also acquired Zalora Vietnam (belonging to Global Fashion Group of Rocket Internet Group) and then renamed it Robins.vn.

C.P Group invades Vietnam’s agricultural market

Not being noisy with the famous M&A deals above, through C.P Group, Thai billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont has built his own “empire” of breeding and agriculture in the Vietnamese market very early.

Entering the Vietnam market right from the beginning of the country opening (1986), until 1993, C.P. Breeding Co., Ltd. Vietnam was established and built an animal feed factory in Dong Nai province. In 2009, C.P. Breeding Co., Ltd. Vietnam merged with Charoen Pokphand Vietnam Co., Ltd. to become C.P. Vietnam Livestock Corporation and then in 2011 renamed C.P. Vietnam Corporation (C.P.Vietnam Breeding Joint Stock Company).

With the advantages of pioneering market entry, plus a closed production cycle and the support from the parent corporation, CP Vietnam has now become one of the major influencers in the animal feed market as well as pork and chicken markets.

Regarding the business situation, data of Nhadautu.vn shows that, in the period of 2017-2019, both revenue and net profit of C.P Vietnam continued to grow. In 2019 alone, C.P Vietnam’s net revenue (parent company) reached VND64,673 billion, up 9.5% over the previous year, the corresponding net profit was VND6,333 billion. As of December 31, 2019, the company’s total assets reached VND32,750 billion, an increase of 15.8% compared to 2018.

By 2020, C.P Vietnam has ranked 18th in the Top 500 largest enterprises in Vietnam.

Thoibao.de (Translated)

Source: https://nhadautu.vn/tham-vong-tren-dat-viet-cua-cac-dai-gia-thai-d48655.html