Due Diligence in Choosing Business Partner

Joint ventures and associate in business will bring many opportunities for the development and success of business. 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 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

Source: Antconsult.vn

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Hanoi Ranks the 3rd in Attracting Foreign Investment

This is the information published by the Department of Planning and Investment

Accordingly, the situation of industrial production in the first 8 months of 2016 in Hanoi is relatively stable with positive growth rate.

In particular, attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) increased, accrued to the date of August 30^th 2016 reached 374 FDI projects (including 256 new projects and 118 projects that increase the capital). The total registered capital reached 2079.37 million USD, exceeding the target of 2016.

Currently in the city there are 3,686 valid projects with the total registered capital of 24.07 billion USD from 72 countries, regions and Hanoi now also ranks the 3^rd in attracting FDI in the whole country.

According to the city leaders, the city will greatly improve the investment environment, promote production and business activities, use the public investment capital effectively…

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. 

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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German Enterprises Seeking Investment Opportunities in HCM City

At a meeting between the leaders of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and the German Business Association (GBA), Mr Jens Ruebbert – Chairman of GBA said that Vietnam is an attractive destination for investment and business activities of foreign investors, including German businesses.

Go along with Mr. Jens Ruebbert attending this meeting, there are more than 70 German enterprises operating in various fields, wishing to expand investment and trading activities in a number of potential areas such as automobile, production, communication, finance, insurance…

With advanced professional qualifications and also experiences, German enterprises are expected to seek investment and trading opportunities, bringing practical benefits for both sides of the business community, as well as both countries.

Germany is one of the major and efficient partners of Vietnam in the field of education and training, science and technology… It is possible to mention some of their projects that have been implementing in Vietnam as Vietnamese-German University; Construction of Phu Lac 1 wind power plant worth 35 million Euros; No. 2 metro line in HCMC worth 240 million Euros or the project to improve energy efficiency in rural areas worth 120 million Euros…

According to the leader of HCMC, the relation between Vietnam and Germany are increasingly strengthened and is developing in various fields such as political, economic, commerce and education…

Germany is one of the important partners of Vietnam in the European Union. Therefore, Vietnam in general and HCMC in particular, wish to promote cooperation in the field of urban transport, health, education…

Until 2020, the two-way exchange trade turnover target between Vietnam and Germany will reach 15 billion to 20 billion USD.

Therefore, in order to create favorable conditions to help German businesses reaching and searching for investment and trading opportunities with Vietnam partners, the Department of Planning and Investment of HCMC has published information on economic and social development orientation of the city from 2016 to 2017.

Besides, the city also introduced several measures to boost production and trading, in order to remove difficulties for enterprises, improve the investment environment to attract human resources at home and abroad such as enhancing trade promotion, expanding the market by concentrating in investment sectors that are encouraged by the city.

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. 

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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FDI WAVE FROM THE UK INTO HO CHI MINH CITY

UK businesses are gradually becoming the largest investors inVietnam.

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 3^rd(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.

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

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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HIGHLIGHTS IN REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT IN VIETNAM

Vietnam is attracting interest of investors in both domestic and foreign market. Overall, investor confidence was returning to the Vietnam real estate market. Both buyers and sellers have enhanced activity in recent months.

The real estate market of Vietnam has overcome the recession period within 4 or 5 years ago but in the last 12 months, the market has recovered and noted positive signs as well as confidence in the market in general.

Law on housing and real estate business Law takes effect in July 2015 and has acted quickly and positively on the real estate market in Vietnam. The changes in the Law on housing have significantly eased the regulations on home ownership for foreigners, although there are still some limitations.

 “Hot spots” of FDI inflows

According to a recent report of Jones Lang LaSalle Vietnam (JLL), a series of free trade agreements such as TPP, EU and ASEAN will further promote the medium and long term development. Interest rates and inflation rate have declined significantly and became more stable in the past two years, helping the investment activity to occur more positive in both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. With some domestic and foreign investors such as CapitaLand and Keppel Land, they have spurred the construction activities thanks to the growing revenue in the last 12 months.

Accordingly, the amount of disbursed FDI in the period from January to September of 2015 rose by 8.4% compared to the same period last year, reaching 9.7 billion USD. This is the strongest growth since the late 1980s, contrary to the slowdown of the Chinese economy. The amount of registered capital of new investors also rose even more sharply with 11 billion USD, focused primarily on the manufacturing industry, in which the energy and electronics industries are the sectors with the highest registered capital investment in the year, followed by the real estate sector.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, FDI investment in the industrial park in Vietnam accounted for 67% of total FDI in Vietnam with 11 billion USD and accounting for 59% of the total 1,400 projects in the first 9 months of 2015. A notable transaction is the event that Amata Corporation acquired the land worth 279 million USD in Long Thanh (Dong Nai) for the purpose of building residential and industrial areas valued of 500 million USD.

According to JLL, the residential real estate prices in Vietnam maintained an average rate with 2 bedroom apartments, 70 m2, 10 – 15 minutes to reach the central area of Ho Chi Minh City, which are sold at the price of 1,600 – 2,000 USD/m2, equivalent to 112,000 – 140,000 USD/apartment. When compared with the big cities in the region, the price is believed to increase significantly.

Who dominated the real estate market of Vietnam?

JLL’s report showed that domestic investors are boosting investment activity in the real estate market of Vietnam. The largest real estate investors in Vietnam are Vingroup and Novaland Group.

Vingroup is Vietnam’s largest real estate development and management with market capitalization of about 3.4 billion USD. Vingroup’s investment portfolio includes 45 real estate projects spread across many sectors of the real estate market, including Vinhomes luxury apartments and villas; Vincom Center and Vincom Mega Mall; Vincom Office; 5 star Vinpearl resort; Vinpearl Luxury resort….

Novaland Group has participated in the real estate market in 2007 with the first project is Sunrise City with investment capital of 500 million USD located on Nguyen Huu Tho road, district 7. The real estatebusiness of Novaland focused on the apartment complex segment from mid to high classes and the segment of house land with 25 projects that are being implemented throughout the downtown districts.

Vietnam is becoming an attractive place for foreign investment in the medium term than many other countries in Southeast Asia. Data from Real Capital Analytics (RCA) recorded that there are more attention from a number of private investment funds that are allocated foreign capital into Vietnam in an attempt to increase their market presence in Vietnam.

In the 2^nd quarter of 2015, a joint venture of Warburg Pincus – a US investment fund, has invested 100 million USD into Vincom Retail, the Vietnam’s largest trade center ownership and management in Vietnam. Also in this quarter, Gaw Capital Partners has received the transfer of 4 real estate projects under various segments from Indochina Land with a total value of 106 million USD. Gamuda Land has also receive the transfer of 40% shares (equivalent to 64.1 million USD) in the Celadon City project, a modern urban area with initial investment by a joint venture between Sacomreal, Thanh Thanh Cong (TTC) and An Phu Gia.

The current real estate profit margin is high

JLL’s analysis shows that investors are now enjoying 6 – 7% profitability rate for residential real estate and 9 – 11% for commercial real estate, depending on location, completion time, quality of the project and the signing time of the tenants.

According to General Director of JLL Vietnam, real estate investment in emerging markets has always been seen as risky investments but with higher potential profits. Investors are willing to engage in joint venture projects in these markets, where they will combine with local investors who wish to have capital supporting – in order to have a foothold in the market before and also experience the exponential growth in the future when the economy of these market growing fast.

Moreover, the emerging markets such as Vietnam will have the potential growth factors, including population growth and high urbanization rate. Investors and project developers can take advantage of these factors.

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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VIETNAM AND EUROPEAN UNION WILL ELIMINATE OVER 99% IMPORT TARIFFS ON EACH OTHER

At a press conference on October 30^th in Vietnam informed of important agreements between Vietnam and European Union (EU), Mr. Bruno Angelet – Ambassador, Head of Delegation of the European Union (EU) said that early August 2015, the EU and Vietnam has announced the conclusion of negotiations but the negotiation group continues to resolve the remaining technical issues, while improving documents.

Once completed, the Agreement must be approved by the National Assembly of Vietnam, the Council and the European Parliament. Accordingly, Vietnam and the EU will eliminate over 99% of import tariffs.

For the few remaining tariffs, both parties will grant each other tariff quota or tariff reduction. This can be seen as the highest level of commitment that Vietnam has achieved in the FTA has been signed so far.

In the investment sector, the commitments to ensure an open business and investment environment to help promote high quality investment flows of both the EU and other partners in Vietnam. Thus, Vietnam has the opportunity to become the connection for trade and investment activities between EU and other countries in the region.

In addition, the commitments related to investment, liberalization of trade, service, Government procurement and intellectual property protection… will also open up opportunities for both sides to approach each other’s market sand ensure balance overall benefit.

EU can become the best partner in the future of Vietnam because Vietnam is also becoming one of the most dynamic countries and have good relationship with EU in the region. EU can support Vietnam in many fields such as governance models and provide excellentservices in the field of infrastructure, training and education, the judiciary and law, health, social insurance and sustainable energy.

Further information   

Risk Prevention in Vietnam

 Trade promotion in Vietnam

Fraud Management in Vietnam

Due diligence corporate investigations

Vietnam entry strategy

Vietnam market intelligence

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Vietnam in Top 20 Destinations to Living in the World

Althought the economy is not too rich like many developing countries, visitor still plus destination to Vietnam by owning many scene nice and the food.

  

Vietnam in  20 top destinations  to living in the World Business Insider Page recently has suggested for many peoples tired of life at home and looking for new environment to do again the begining. Vietnam ranks 16th among the top  20 most liveable , higher than Japan and Belgium. In the opinion of this website, S-shaped strip of land owned many beautiful landscapes, delicious food, attractive, affordable, easy to make friends and social life stable. However, Vietnam also has some limitations such as standing near the bottom of the rankings on health and quality of life for children.

Topping the list is Switzerland. Despite small size, this country owns the economy, political stability, income per capita and is located in the heart of Europe.

National received the most opposition after the name in the list is India. Many people believe that this is dangerous countries for women evils of rape still occur daily and the government, there is no effective preventive measures.

Further information   

Risk Prevention in Vietnam

 Trade promotion in Vietnam

Fraud Management in Vietnam

Due diligence corporate investigations

Vietnam entry strategy

Vietnam market intelligence

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Vietnam Prepares for Wave of Russian Tourist

Currently, there were complicated situations occurred in the favorite destinations of Russian tourists such as Egypt, Turkey and Goa of India, the Russian Government recommend, forbidden or even stop the tours and flights to these destinations. Such names as Vietnam, Cuba and China were recommended as safe destinations for Russian citizens to travel.

Nha Trang Beach of Vietnam

The A321 of Kogalymavia Airlines (Russia) had an accident in the Sinai Peninsula (Egypt) on October 31st makes 224 people on the flight were killed. The Security Agency of the Russian Federation determined that this is a terrorist attack after finding traces of explosives in the debris. Soon after, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the suspension of all flights from Russia to Egypt.

On November 11th, Russia officially banned all aircraft of the national airline of Egypt (Egypt Air) and advised their citizens should not come here. This led the Egyptian tourism industry hit hard. According to Al-Ahram newspaper in Arabic of Egypt, there were 72,000 Russian tourists have left this country after the tragedy. Egyptian Tourism Minister predicted that in the last 3 months of 2015, their tourism industry could suffer over 820 million USD losses.

Goa, a state in India is the favorite destination of Russians in the new year holiday continues to go to “blacklist” due to threats to local security problems as well as the increase in prices at tourist sites.

The crisis started in 2014 when the Ruble devaluation, the number of Russian tourists travel to Goa halved. 2016 will continue to decline. The negative impacts caused Transaero Airlines, which often serving 50% of guests are Russians goes bankruptcy. According to statistics, Russian tourists accounted for nearly 50% of foreign visitors to Goa, with nearly 250,000 visitors in 2013.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the House of Russia published a list of the safe destinations, which encouraging its citizens to come after a series of favorite destinations are included in the “blacklist”. In the three alternative candidates, there was Vietnam.

Phu Quoc Beach of Vietnam

At the Russia – Vietnam business forum occurred last November in Moscow, Russia suggested that Vietnam should prepare to welcome waves of tourist to come here after many difficulties in Egypt. Moreover, Vietnam should improve the mechanisms to support the Russian tour operators to penetrate the Vietnam tour market.

This is good sign for Vietnam’s tourism industry after the number of Russian tourists has reduced from the end of 2014 due to the Ruble devaluation causing them to tighten spending. According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, as of November 2015, there are 297,384 Russian visitors come to Vietnam, reached only 90% compared to the same period last year. However, from October, the number of Russian arrivals to Vietnam has increased slightly.

The high season of Russian for traditional wintering lasts from October to the end of March next year. Therefore, it is time for Vietnam to attract the large number of tourists coming from Russia. Moreover, it is particularly advantageous in the context of many favorite destinations of the Russian are no longer safe and Vietnam is recommended by the Russian Government.

Further information   

Risk Prevention in Vietnam

 Trade promotion in Vietnam

Fraud Management in Vietnam

Due diligence corporate investigations

Vietnam entry strategy

Vietnam market intelligence

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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.

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 2^nd 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.

Further information   

Risk Prevention in Vietnam

 Trade promotion in Vietnam

Fraud Management in Vietnam

Due diligence corporate investigations

Vietnam entry strategy

Vietnam market intelligence

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