Contracts Signed When President Obama Visits Vietnam

There have been series of cooperation contracts that are signed between the AmCham (American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam) members and Vietnam businessesafter the first day that President Barack Obama visits Vietnam.

On the trip to Vietnam of President Obama, AmCham and VCCI jointly organized the corporate event in Hanoi. At the event, the signing of agreements between member companies of AmCham and Vietnamese partners are took place.

In particular, the signing of treaties on climate change and clean energy includes 7 records:

– Memorandum of GE on the development of 1000MW of wind power: Estimated that in 2025, there will be 1,000 megawatts from wind power projects. With that capacity, wind power will be enough to supply for 1.8 million households in Vietnam over the next 10 years.

– Agreement on nuclear safety training: US will help Vietnam to train the human resources, equipped with the knowledge of nuclear procurement, design and build factories, licensing and safety checks of nuclear reactors in the future. At the same time, US experts will also advise about the effectiveness of this technology as well as economic benefits when developing.

– Memorandum of Understanding between the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group and Murph Oil Company: Murphy has participated in oil and gas exploration in Vietnam since 2012 and currently is cooperating to exploit gas in Nam Con Son. This memorandum will open up many opportunities for cooperation between the two sides in oil and gas, energy joint venture, accelerating the negotiation of the project in Tho Chu Island and many other contracts.

– Cooperation agreement of the solar energy projects between First Solar and Thien Tan: Thien Tan Investment and Construction Company have signed two major contracts to purchase solar panels worth 35 million USD to serve the solar photovoltaic plant, which has started construction since mid 2015. The plant has a capacity of 19.2 MW with total investment of 800 billion VND and is built on an area of 24 ha in Quang Ngai.

– Memorandum of Biomass Minnesota Plant: Tin Thanh Electricity Company cooperates with US businesses, negotiating the terms related to design and build of boiler biomass power. That helps saving of 10 – 20% electricity, reducing 200,000 tons of carbon each year.

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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

Along with other agreements such as joint researching on lower Mekong, Memorandum of Understanding on climate change in the Mekong Delta…

The signing ceremony of the future investment projects includes the Memorandum of Understanding that The Grand Ho Tram Strip develops its 2nd hotel tower; Memorandum of Traffic Safety Program.

Accordingly, The Grand Ho Tram Strip has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Cotec Construction Joint Stock Company (CotecCons) on the expansion of The Grand Ho Tram Strip worth 75 million USD.

The construction of the 2nd hotel tower with 559 rooms of The Grand Ho Tram Strip will be undertaken by CotecCons, bringing the total number of room of The Grand Ho Tram Strip to 1,100 rooms when completed.

After the completion of the hotel building, the actual total investment for the whole project has reached 1 billion USD.

In addition, in a memorandum on traffic safety program, the US will pour about 1 million USD to help Vietnam solving the challenges of traffic safety problems such as accidents, give helmets for citizens…

In the aviator industry, Vietjet Air (Vietnam) and Boeing (US) have signed contract worth 11.3 billion USD in the presence of President Tran Dai Quang and President Obama. With this contract, Vietjet Air will buy 100 Boeing 737 MAX 200 from Boeing.

Besides the contract signed with Boeing, Vietjet Air also signed contract with United Technologies Corp to buy engines for the aircrafts that Vietjet has signed and ordered with aircraft suppliers. The signed contracts worth up to 3.04 billion USD.

According to the executive director of the US Trade Association (AmCham), the visit of President Obama will further promote cooperation relations between the two countries in many fields; including economy, friendship between the two countries, security, human right, global and area issues of mutual interest.

The timing of the trip to Vietnam of President Obama has very important meaning because this is the time Parliament is preparing to consider ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) at the end of this year.

AmCham believes that the TPP will bring many benefits and opportunities for companies, investors, workers, farmers and consumers in both the US and Vietnam. When fully deployed, the TPP will pave the way for the digital economy, strengthen the creative industries; contributing to a fair play ground for businesses and investors.

In addition, TPP will bring many important changes to the business environment in Vietnam and opens up many new opportunities, helping Vietnam to speed up in the industrialization, modernization and globalization process. This Agreement will help the private sector to have more opportunities to reach important markets, stimulating competition, attracting foreign investment and contributing to the construction of supply chain infrastructure; from that creates great opportunities for Vietnam enterprises, creating jobs and raise incomes for Vietnamese employees.

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation.  Our services are as following:

• Market Entry
• Tax Advice
• Legal Advice
• Outsourcing Services

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

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Japanese Enterprises Want to Leave China to Enter Vietnam

The labor costs in China rose steadily, along with the territorial dispute between Beijing and Tokyo are the two factors that the Japanese business community wants to move their production to Vietnam instead of China.

Mitsui OSK Lines, the largest shipping company in Japan has decided to invest 1.2 billion USD in the project to build international container port in Hai Phong. The decision is given 3 years since the Japanese businesses gradually increase investment in Southeast Asia due to the rising labor costs in China and the territorial dispute between Beijing and Tokyo causes many complex issues to incur.

The International Container Terminal Project in Hai Phong is implemented by the Tan Cang Saigon Company, partner Molnykit (Japan) and Hai Phong International Container Port, in the form of public-private partnership (PPP) and under the guidelines the Government of Vietnam and Japan.

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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

According to  the Financial Times, the terminal will start operation in 2018 and double the port’s current capacity to serve the needs of the growing electronics manufacturer industrial zones near Hanoi.

Currently, the situation that many Japanese companies close their factories in southern China and moved manufacturing operations to areas with cheaper labor costs in Vietnam.

Since the protests against Japan exploded in major cities of China in 2012, investing activities of Japanese companies in Southeast Asia surged. The foreign direct investment from Japan to ASEAN reached more than 20 billion USD in 2015, according to Government data, and exceeded total foreign direct investment in China, Hong Kong.

Results from an annual large-scale survey of Japan External Trade Organization showed that the proportion of Japanese companies want to expand production in China fell below 40% since 1998.

According to another report from Mizuho Research Institute, after surveying the opinions of more than 1,000 Japanese manufacturers, it is showed that Vietnam was the top destination among 12 countries participating in TPP Agreement for companies who want to increase their investment.

Vietnam is also one of the countries in which Japanese firms considered ideal to build the factory if they move production out of China’s territory.

Many reports estimate the total domestic product of the ASEAN countries will increase from the current rate of 2.6 trillion USD to 5.8 trillion USD in 2025. The rising labor costs in China are changing the conception of the Japanese business community on the role of ASEAN in the global supply chain. Vietnam is really an emerging heaven of electronic products. This fact will completely change the macroeconomic outlook of Vietnam.

In addition to the prospect to become the center of merchandise exports to Europe and the United States, Vietnam can also directly supply goods to the ASEAN markets in the context of mass population is about to reach 700 million people.

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation.  Our services are as following:

• Market Entry
• Tax Advice
• Legal Advice
• Outsourcing Services

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

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Due Diligence in Choosing Business Partner

Joint ventures and association in business will bring many opportunities for the development and success, especially expanding and making entry into new Vietnam as new marketthrough cross border transaction, setting up company, acquiring shares in new company.

However, it is not easy to choose partners to help maximize the value for business, especially in this difficult time. That is the reason why we should conduct the due diligence research in Vietnam before making any decision.

According to experts, there are enterprises that growing very fast because they choose the right partners involving in the value chain, but also there are well-known enterprises in the market that have to face with a lot of difficulties due to choosing wrong partners. Therefore, how to choose the right business partners, financial partners and strategic shareholders to help enterprises overcome difficulties, develop faster and more sustainable are always issues that concerned by many business leaders.

In challenging conditions as at present, the economic situation in Vietnam and the world places great influence on the partner selection of companies. Currently, the debt crisis in some European countries caused the demand for import from these countries dropped sharply. Therefore, Vietnam enterprises must seek new markets. In this situation, companies should restructure their operations, choosing to produce products that are suitable with the new markets.

There are two key partners that companies need to keep in mind, they are financial partner and business partner. Depending on the objectives of the companies that they will choose the right partner. Normally, with the stable economic condition, companies often choose strategic partner.

However, in difficult situation such as the present, the choice of partners is made for short term so that the company could be able to change and adapt according to the general environmental condition. Many experts believe that, in difficult times, good cooperation will help enterprises to stand firm and “over storm” successfully.

Hence, conducting the due diligence research helps us to have a clearer vision of partners before deciding to cooperate with them in business, especially partners in foreign countries where you still feel strange. Whether choosing business partner or financial partner, companies should be cautious. They should learn from the Japanese companies. Before deciding to cooperate with a partner, Japanese companies often study the partners very thoroughly. Therefore, the cooperation project of Japanese companies often succeeds up to 85%.

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation.  Our services are as following:

• Advisory
• Market Entry
• Tax Advice
• Legal Advice

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

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Emart Hypermarket (Korea) Officially Joins Vietnam Market

After 5 years of conducting the survey and researching the market of Vietnam, the leading retail group from Korea – Emart (owned by Shinsegae Group) has officially entered Vietnam market by opening the first Emart hypermarket in Vietnam on December 28th 2015 in 366 Phan Van Tri street, ward 5, Go Vap district, Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).

Go Vap Emart Hypermarket has over 3 ha in area with a total investment of up to 60 million USD (equivalent to 1,350 billion VND). Starting construction from early 2015 and went into operation at the end of the year,  Emart Go Vap is expected to meet the shopping needs and create modern consumption habits of Vietnamese people with quality products and reasonable price.

Emart Go Vap has two main parts with an area of 6,000m2, serving diverse items from staples, fresh products to household goods, electronics, fashion…; the utility service areas include restaurants, children’s education and entertainment park… The modern shopping space, nonstop improving and upgrading services are differences that help Emart Go Vap conquer local consumers.

Mr. Choi Kwang Ho, CEO of Emart Vietnam said that the growth of Emart will accompany the development of Vietnam. Thus, 95% of goods in Emart are domestic goods. With the quality and best price as well as services that match with shopping habits of Vietnamese, Emart commits to put on great efforts to become a close shopping destination for local people.

Read More

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

Come to the opening of Emart from December 28th, customers will have chance to visit and shopping with many attractive 50% discount programs plus thousands of gifts and awards such as Emart helmets, Emart environmental bags, SH 150i motorcycles, Samsung TV… At the same time, customers can also participate in many exciting activities such as taking pictures with snow, the rotation of luck, darts and face painting… Especially, customers visit Emart Go Vap will enjoy unique dishes from Korea as traditional kimpap and many other unique Asian dishes… With the shopping discounts and attractive activities, Emart Go Vap promises to bring consumers an exciting and attractive shopping space, especially in the time of Lunar New Year is coming very close.

As the first Emart Hypermarket in Vietnam, Emart Go Vap is an important step in the launching plans and the ambition to penetrate the Vietnam retail market. Pursuing the motto “Every day of customers will be full of joy”, Emart committed to providing goods and best service to customers.

With the desire to grow in breadth and depth in new markets as well as to realize the goal to brand Emart to the world, Emart promises to continue a-20-year-history of impressive development with Emart Go Vap and the future system of Emart in HCMC and Vietnam.

Since the opening of the first low cost shop in Korea in 1993, Emart has achieved impressive growth steps in the past 20 years. Currently, Emart Hypermarket is the no 1 hypermarket chain in Korea with over 160 hypermarkets in Korea and foreign countries. Emart is the largest and oldest low cost store chain in Korea with sales exceeding 13.2 billion USD as of 2014. Through the launching of new series of trade centers and acquired Walmart Korea in 2006, Emart is confirming the leading position in the field of retail and supermarket chains.

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation.  Our services are as following:

• Market Entry
• Tax Advice
• Legal Advice
• Outsourcing Services

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

Read More

Due Diligence in Choosing Business Partner

Joint ventures and association in business will bring many opportunities for the development and success, especially expanding and making entry into new Vietnam as new marketthrough cross border transaction, setting up company, acquiring shares in new company.

However, it is not easy to choose partners to help maximize the value for business, especially in this difficult time. That is the reason why we should conduct the due diligence research in Vietnam before making any decision.

According to experts, there are enterprises that growing very fast because they choose the right partners involving in the value chain, but also there are well-known enterprises in the market that have to face with a lot of difficulties due to choosing wrong partners. Therefore, how to choose the right business partners, financial partners and strategic shareholders to help enterprises overcome difficulties, develop faster and more sustainable are always issues that concerned by many business leaders.

In challenging conditions as at present, the economic situation in Vietnam and the world places great influence on the partner selection of companies. Currently, the debt crisis in some European countries caused the demand for import from these countries dropped sharply. Therefore, Vietnam enterprises must seek new markets. In this situation, companies should restructure their operations, choosing to produce products that are suitable with the new markets.

There are two key partners that companies need to keep in mind, they are financial partner and business partner. Depending on the objectives of the companies that they will choose the right partner. Normally, with the stable economic condition, companies often choose strategic partner.

However, in difficult situation such as the present, the choice of partners is made for short term so that the company could be able to change and adapt according to the general environmental condition. Many experts believe that, in difficult times, good cooperation will help enterprises to stand firm and “over storm” successfully.

Hence, conducting the due diligence research helps us to have a clearer vision of partners before deciding to cooperate with them in business, especially partners in foreign countries where you still feel strange. Whether choosing business partner or financial partner, companies should be cautious. They should learn from the Japanese companies. Before deciding to cooperate with a partner, Japanese companies often study the partners very thoroughly. Therefore, the cooperation project of Japanese companies often succeeds up to 85%.

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation.  Our services are as following:

• Advisory
• Market Entry
• Tax Advice
• Legal Advice

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

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M&A Due Diligence and Execution in Vietnam

Merger and Acquisition (M&A) activities in Vietnam have been rapidly increasing over the the years in value and number of transactions when Vietnam’s opening policies to attract foreign investments loosen up.  The M&A due diligence and execution are therefore important steps to ensure a successful transaction.

M&A in Vietnam: Strong Flow from Thailand

Vietnamese Chains Attracting Foreign Funds

US Billionaire Mark Mobius Expanding Investment in Vietnam

Japan Increases Investment in Vietnam in Finance and Services

For foreign investors wishing to take advantage with a certain level of risks in Vietnam where the cost of labour are cheap, mid-income populations are growing, and the need of capital are high, it is imporatant to find the right target companies to invest.  Challenges might arise when approaching the right local companies, locating the right decision makers within the local companies, encountering differences in languages and cultures.

It is imporant that the local consultants with the understanding of the business and legal environment in Vietnam where the local companies are incorporated could be involved at an initial stage to monitor and minimize the risks, improve the effectiveness of the M&A process in Vietnam.

The Vietnam consulting company could also provide corporate intelligence and insights of the Vietnam targeted companies to have an overall evaluation of the compliance of the Vietnam companies, possible risks involved and growth potential.  Financial forensic services might also be needed before other further steps.  Then, the following will need to be considered when undertaking the M&A in Vietnam.

Due diligence

M&A due diligence in Vietnam is a vital step because it determines whether the M&A will succeed or not. There are some aspects that must be carefully considered:

• Financial reports

Review all the financial reports of the Vietnam targeted companies within 3 to 5 years to assess the current and future financial situation. These data needs to be audited by a reputable independent auditing company. Evaluating financial situation targets on many aspects such as the reasonable connection between the financial statements, operating and sales margin of the business in relation to the average in that industry.  These data allow valuation real value of the target business.

• The cash flow

Checking the dates on invoices showing that whether targeted businesses have paid promptly or not. Term of payment may vary from industry to industry, but generally 30 to 60 days. If the money order is paid after the billing date period of 90 days or more, it means that the business owner may be struggling with cash flow. Finding out that if the clients’ inability to pay bills or not is very important.

• The staff

Determining the importance of staff for the success of the business considering work habits of employees, working time of key employees; ability to remain working after a change of the owner occurs; the incentives necessary to keep key employees; ability to easily replace key employees; the relationship of key employees with the company’s customers.

• The customers

This is the most important assets of the Vietnam targeted company. Make sure that clients are as the other tangible assets of the business. Evaluating customers on some primary aspects: the relationship with the current owner of the business, customer history with business relations and the contribution of each customer to the profits of the company; assessing that customer will leave or stay when the businesshaving new owners; customer services and dispute of the company, the relationship of the former owner of the business with the community or the industry.

• Business location

This is especially important if the targeted company is a retail company. Does the importance of business location play a crucial role for the success of the company? How is the location of the company you plan to acquire? Is there sufficient parking lot for customers? How does the company depend on sales in the region? How is the prospects of the business in this area? Does this place have been in the process of rapid change from new residential district office building or not? Has business location become more or less desirable because of contemplated changes in surrounding area or not?

• Competitors

Considering this aspect in order to define the capacity of the targeted business in the industry, the following questions would help: who are its competitor and what are their strategies? Does the price war happen frequently? How has the competitive environment changed?

• Business registration, permits and zoning

It’s necessary to make sure that business registration certificate and other legal documents can be easily given to the buyer. It would be better to acknowledge the procedures to transfer these documents and its fee with the help of local management consulting company in Vietnam. If the targeted company is a joint-stocks company, what is the procedure for the business registration? Can foreigners own the company 100% according to Vietnam laws?  Conditional investments in Vietnam need to be considered carefully by lawyers in Vietnam to avoid mishaps.

• The company image

Company image can be a significant asset and that cannot be assessed in the financial report. There are many intangible factors to consider when evaluating a company: how to serve customers, how employees answer the phone and the level of support the community or the industry.

Negotiate the price

It is important to understand the purpose and motivation of both parties. The sellers’ motivation are formed and affected by value drivers. There are two main value drivers which are approach value and avoidance value. Approach value is our purpose such as prosperity and avoidance value is the negative effect that we need to eliminate. Normally, the buyers try to find out what are the reasons why the owner wish to sell the companies. This will help the buyers plan a reasonable strategy beforehand.

A research analyzes the general aspects that the buyers seeking for via conducting surveys companies’ owner who have sold or transformed their enterprises. The research results are focus on profit maximization (79%), minimization of tax payable (73%), protection of viability of the company (71%)…(Source: Acquisition Marketplace Review, 2007).

The motivation of the buyer in most cases is similar to the motivation of the seller, which is to maximize profits, expand markets, increase revenue, operating areas, areas of activity, minimize taxes…

ANT Consulting is here to assist you from the outset; providing corporate intelligence, risk advisory, management consulting services that assist market entrance, and ensure efficient business start-up operation.  Our services are as following:

• Market Entry
• Tax Advice
• Legal Advice
• Outsourcing Services

We strive to save your cost by guiding you towards economical solutions that comply with local legislation and procedures. We support you through early logistic solutions and carry you through as your business grows.  We aim to bridge the gap between international best practices and local cultures and assist foreign companies and organizations entering Vietnam market to overcome commercial and regulatory issues.

We could be reached at email: ant@antconsult.vn or tel: +848 3520 2779 .  To learn more about us, please visit www.antconsult.vn

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