Three-nation joint venture to build $235 mln commercial complex

Japan-based ORIX financial services group, Singapore’s United Overseas Land Limited and a Vietnamese ceramics biggie entered a joint venture to build a US$235 million trade complex in Hanoi.
The Japanese and Singaporean investors clinched an agreement late last week with Vietnam Glass and Ceramics Corp, or Viglacera, a leading sanitary maker to set up a joint venture to build the office-building and hotel complex at the western gateway to Hanoi.

The complex is tailored to comprise of a 30 story office building, a five-star 24 story hotel and three 30-storey high-end apartment blocks.

It also includes a four-story shopping mall covering 25,000 sq.m, and an international standard retailing center.

Work is set to start on the project in the second half of the year, to be completed by the end of 2009.

ORIX is an integrated financial services group based in Tokyo, providing innovative value-added products and services to both corporate and retail customers.

With operations in 23 countries and regions worldwide, ORIX's activities include leasing, corporate finance, real estate-related finance and development, life insurance, and investment and retail banking.

Singapore-based UOL is as a large property conglomerate based in Asia with over 40 subsidiaries and associates in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Vietnam and China.

The company is listed on the stock exchange in the city of Singapore, and is part of the Straits Times Index there.

The group develops retail areas, serviced apartments, corporate properties Singapore Spa and hotels, including the Hotel Plaza Group of hotels in south Asia and Australia.

It has diversified into furniture retailing and health/fitness equipment.

Source: Thoi bao Kinh te Vietnam – Compiled by Dong Ha

Experts say euro will gain better share in Vietnam

Banking and trade experts have expressed their confidence that the euro will substantially increase its share as a reserve, trading and reference currency in Vietnam in the foreseeable future.
The European Union was now the largest trading partner and investor in Vietnam, said Alain Cany, chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham), at the “Raising Awareness about the Euro” seminar in HCMC last Friday.
“This is a good reason for the euro to be used in Vietnam,” Cany said at the coffee break at the EuroCham seminar. The president and CEO of HSBC Vietnam pointed out another reason that Vietnamese people were getting out of the U.S. dollar as the main currency and the dong was becoming more and more popular.
“I see the interest of Vietnamese in the dollar is going down significantly and the dong has been seen as a stable currency. This is good for the local economy,” Cany said.
Cany and other bankers at the event agreed Vietnamese businesses had a wider choice of using the U.S. dollar or the European currency for their international transactions.
“So, I’m quite optimistic that this is the reason we do more promotions for the euro for people to understand about it,” Cany said. He added although the share of total transactions in euro was still small, more and more people were resorting to the currency.
Pham Quang Thang of Techcombank agreed with Cany, saying that the number and size of transactions using the euro were small in Vietnam, though the currency had appeared in the country since 2002.
The director of Techcombank’s treasure center showed transactions with the EU market made up 13-15% of total value and payments in euro at the bank accounted for a mere 2.62%.
Thang explained the dollar remained the most common foreign currency in Vietnam’s economy and was widely used as an international payment and savings mean.
Cany said there were no statistics about the share of transactions in euro in Vietnam but put the share at probably 10%. But, the percentage could double in 2010, he said and explained that euro was a strong and stable currency.
Thang said the expansion of the EU increased the diversification and size of the market and helped popularize the use of euro in payments. Financial and investment institutions opting for euro also facilitate investment activities and payments in euro.
Cany said that euro was a good alternative for savings because it was becoming stronger than the dollar. He stressed the stronger euro was the better it was for Vietnamese companies to export their products to Europe.
“Now is the best time for Vietnamese companies to promote their exports to Europe. A lot of European companies try to buy goods from Vietnam because of good quality and attractive prices.”
Antonio Berenguer, trade counselor at the Delegation of the European Commission to Vietnam, said in support of Cany that Europe was a large and attractive export market.
The EU-Vietnam trade ties have grown an average of 15-20% per year over the past decade and were put at 7.4 billion euro in 2005, according to EuroCham.
Source: Saigon Times Daily

Vietcombank plans IPO in 3rd quarter: official

Vietcombank plans IPO in 3rd quarter: official

State-owned Vietcombank, Vietnam's second-largest bank by assets, plans to offer shares to the public in the third quarter of this year, bank General Director Vu Viet Ngoan said Monday.
"Vietcombank is in its final steps to prepare for an initial public offering, which is expected to be in July or August this year," Ngoan said.
The bank would have two IPOs, the first in the country and the second in an overseas market next year, Ngoan told Dow Jones Newswire.
He said Vietcombank, or Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, would give details about its share-selling plans in the coming weeks.
Vietcombank's Chairman Nguyen Hoa Binh told the media last week the bank was expected to sign a contract this month with a foreign consultancy company to help it prepare for its IPO later this year.
By the end of 2006, Vietcombank had assets of VND169.46 trillion ($10.06 billion), up 23.9 percent on year.
It made a net profit of VND2.47 trillion during the year, up 91.5 percent year on year, the bank's figures showed.
Vietcombank is one of the four state-run banks ordered by the government to offer shares to the public this year.
The other three are Vietindebank, Vietnam's third-largest ban,k Incombank and the Mekong Delta Housing Development Bank. Agribank, the country's largest bank, would follow in 2008.
Currently, Vietnamese law allows foreigners to have a 30 percent maximum stake in its domestic banks.
Source: Dow Jones Newswire