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VIETNAM BUSINESS REVIEW | FINANCE VIETNAM BUSINESS REVIEW Highlight Smart town draw Japan big names Vol 08, Mar 7 th 2018 What’s in it today? FINANCE BFSI space turns investor favorite Vingroup picks banks for $1 billion residential property arm IPO RETAIL Central Group pegs $6b for expansion Retail part of mix for Capitaland Vietnam Hanoi project Vietnam’s foreign retail giants see different tales STARTUP Start-up recycles used containers for stores targeting young owner, customer Vietnam start-up investment rises 42% ECOMMERCE Vietnam ripe for e-commerce boom Southeast Asia’s e-commerce startups thrive under giant marketplaces’ long shadow INVESTMENT Vietnam smart town draws Japan Inc.’s big names Vietnam utility places solar plant order with Japan’s JGC LOGISTICS FLC wants to buy 24 Airbus planes Ship-building industry needs special policies

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Page 1: Highlight VIETNAM big names BUSINESS REVIEW - seiko · PDF fileSingapore is a tiny market but the leader in basket size. ... business model is another. Previously a business ... business

VIETNAM BUSINESS REVIEW | FINANCE 1

VIETNAM

BUSINESS REVIEW

Highlight

Smart town draw Japan

big names

Vol 08, Mar 7th 2018

What’s in it today?

FINANCE

BFSI space turns investor favorite

Vingroup picks banks for $1 billion residential property arm

IPO

RETAIL

Central Group pegs $6b for expansion

Retail part of mix for Capitaland Vietnam Hanoi project

Vietnam’s foreign retail giants see different tales

STARTUP

Start-up recycles used containers for stores targeting young

owner, customer

Vietnam start-up investment rises 42%

ECOMMERCE

Vietnam ripe for e-commerce boom

Southeast Asia’s e-commerce startups thrive under giant

marketplaces’ long shadow

INVESTMENT

Vietnam smart town draws Japan Inc.’s big names

Vietnam utility places solar plant order with Japan’s JGC

LOGISTICS

FLC wants to buy 24 Airbus planes

Ship-building industry needs special policies

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VIETNAM BUSINESS REVIEW | FINANCE 1

FINANCE

BFSI space turns investor favorite

Vietnam’s finance, banking and insurance sector has attracted $19.77m from foreign investors in the

first two months this year as against $20.2m in the corresponding period last year, registering a slight

decline, according to the latest announcement from Foreign Investment Agency.

This comes in the backdrop of recent deals involving foreign investors entering Vietnam by acquiring

local companies.

In February, Mirae Asset Global Investments, the asset management unit of South Korea’s Mirae Asset

Financial Group, inked a joint venture agreement with a subsidiary of Vietnam’s sovereign wealth fund

State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC).

In January, Hanoi-based Techcombank was allowed to sell its entire stake in financial arm Techcom

Finance to Lotte Card Company under South Korean chaebol Lotte Group.

Shinhan Card Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the Korean Shinhan Financial Group acquired 100% Vietnam

Prudential Vietnam Finance Company Limited (PVFC) from UK-based financial services group Prudential

plc for a consideration of $151m also in January.

The securities market is likely to be the most attractive investment channel for investors in the

Vietnamese economy this year, analysts predicted.

This year, Techcombank, Tien Phong Bank (TPBank) and Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank

(Maritime Bank) plan to list on the stock exchange, which is expected to boost the banking sector, as

well as the securities market.

Vingroup picks banks for $1 billion residential property arm IPO

Vingroup JSC VIC.HM, Vietnam’s biggest property developer, has picked 4 foreign banks for a planned $1

billion listing of its residential property business, which will mark a strong run of IPOs in the country.

Vingroup has tapped Citigroup (C.N), Credit Suisse (CSGN.S), Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) and Morgan

Stanley (MS.N) for the planned initial public offering of Vinhomes, which, if completed, could be one of

the biggest ever equity offerings in Vietnam, the sources said.

The IPO would follow last year’s listing of Warburg Pincus-backed Vincom Retail JSC VRE.HM, Vietnam’s

biggest shopping mall operator and also a unit of Vingroup, which raised roughly $700m.

The participation of Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and Franklin Templeton in Vincom Retail’s IPO

has attracted other global investors to the country, bankers and lawyers said.

In a presentation to investors this month, Vingroup said it was considering various strategic initiatives

for its residential development business, which may include a capital markets offering and listing or

other corporate transactions.

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VIETNAM BUSINESS REVIEW | E-COMMERCE 2

E-COMMERCE

Vietnam ripe for e-commerce boom

Vietnam is the most exciting country to watch in the digital revolution era, Winfield Wong, country

head, wholesale banking, HSBC Vietnam, told the media from his bank’s Singapore office this week.

Vietnam is one of the few countries in the region that has been able to sustain a consistent growth rate

in recent years, he said.

In the next two years, the number of middle-income

consumers in the country would account for about a

third of its population, or 33m, and with a strong

digital presence, this could translate into huge

potential for e-commerce, which is expected to grow

by 20% annually to $10b by 2020, he said.

On the Government side, “Vietnam is taking

digitisation very seriously. The Government has

developed plans for digitisation, built networks for e-

commerce and e-payment,” he said.

He gave the example of the online tax payment

system launched last year that allows companies to

pay around the clock through banks.

The Government’s embrace of digitisation has been warmly welcomed by businesses since they benefit

from faster customs clearance and a reduction in cost and time, he said.

HSBC is among the several banks that have signed an agreement with customs to offer their customer

online payments. The UK-based bank is one of the foreign lenders seeking to boost digitisation in the

Vietnamese banking sector.

An example is its e-FX platform launched last May to give corporate customers online access to liquidity

through competitive pricing of foreign exchange spot, forwards, swaps, and time option forwards.

The platform had more than 100 clients at the end of January. The media briefing was on the bank’s

digital agenda in Southeast Asia.

ASEAN is the sixth largest economy in the world with a combined GDP of $2.5 trillion that is growing at

6% a year and a population of more than 600m of whom 40% of them are under 30.

According to a study by Google and Temasek, Southeast Asia’s digital economy is expected to hit $200b

by 2025, accounting for 6% of the region’s gross domestic product. E-commerce will top $88b that year.

The online tax payment system launched last year is part of Viet Nam’s efforts to push for e-commerce

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VIETNAM BUSINESS REVIEW | E-COMMERCE 3

Southeast Asia’s e-commerce startups thrive under giant marketplaces’ long

shadow

Every day, ecommerce marketplaces engage in a fencing match. Contenders thrust and parry with their

pricing algorithms to undercut one another. Larger sharks advance, applying sharp discounts to their

products to bleed rival minnows dry.

Beyond the theatrics of giant marketplaces, however, exists a parallel universe of niche ecommerce

companies that aren’t just surviving, but thriving. It is a sign that opportunities still exist in little-seen

corners of Southeast Asia.

Dramatic flair

In Vietnam, Loic Gautier is plotting his next move. He is the founder and CEO of Leflair, a website that

sells branded goods at a steep discount to upper-middle class consumers.

Business has been brisk. Its sales have been growing at 10% every month, resulting in the figure

doubling in 2017 compared to the previous year. Gautier shares more numbers:

Average customer spends: $80

Monthly visits: 1 million

Annualized revenue: more than $10m, achieved late last year.

Funding raised from investors: $5m

Marketing spend: around 10% of revenue.

While these are not bad for a two-year-old business that serves only Vietnamese consumers, any VC-

funded business can put their top line on steroids by letting its marketing machine loose and ignoring

unit economics. But not Leflair, says Gautier.

Vietnam is not so scary anymore

The era of startups in Southeast Asian ecommerce has seemingly ended. As Amazon and Alibaba pour

their unlimited resources into the region, entrepreneurs starting their own marketplace today may be

signing their bankruptcy filing.

But for companies that entered the ring a few years ago, good times may lie ahead. There is plenty of

room for growth: Southeast Asia’s ecommerce market is still slightly behind India, and even further

behind China.

Singapore is a tiny market but the leader in basket size.

Meanwhile, Vietnam has a large market but trails its neighbors

in basket size and credit card usage.

Indeed, Vietnam may be heating up. Peer-to-peer ecommerce

marketplace Lozi, which has millions of registered users, raised

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VIETNAM BUSINESS REVIEW | E-COMMERCE 4

a round of funding late last year from Singapore-based investor Rekanext Capital Partners.

Then, Chinese ecommerce giant JD muscled in with an investment in Vietnamese counterpart Tiki.vn,

one of the top dogs in the country. Expect more consolidation to come.

Southeast Asia’s ecommerce ocean

Geography is one way to carve a niche; business model is another. Previously a business development

manager at Lazada, Gautier saw firsthand the weaknesses of online marketplaces:

Leflair’s flash sales approach addresses these gripes. The company works directly with brands or their

official distributors to offload off-season items at a steep discount. Merchants simply hand off their

goods to Leflair, which does the rest.Flash sales can be potentially viable in Southeast Asia, though it has

some ways to go before reaching the billion-dollar heights of VIP.com in China or Vente-Privee in France.

Singapore’s Reebonz, a luxury goods flash sales pioneer founded in 2009, made a tidy $132m in revenue

and was $14m shy of profitability in 2016, according to its financial statement. Although its revenue

grew by only one% year-on-year, it slashed its losses by three-quarters.

However, across the pond in Indonesia, the numbers of flash sales site VIP Plaza look less rosy, reveals

the 2016 financial statement for its Singapore entity, which owns subsidiaries in Indonesia and Malaysia:

Revenue: $413,000

Loss: $3.1m

Marketing cost: $1.3m

Neither Reebonz nor VIP Plaza responded to Tech in Asia’s questions regarding their finances. Looking

beyond flash sales, other business models are also vying for their time under the sun.

Peer-to-peer marketplace Carousell is the top shopping app on iOS in Singapore but has only justed

started monetizing.

End-to-end ecommerce businesses are relatively small but growing fast, with NSI Ventures backing a

couple of them recently: Grain grew its revenue by almost four times while Love Bonito’s doubled.

The empires strike back

Even as startups press on, the giants are not sitting still. Taking a page from Alibaba and JD, Lazada is

working to eliminate the perceived weaknesses of marketplaces.

For instance, Lazada is expanding the suite of tools for merchants to include fulfillment, store design,

and local language translation. The company also works with well-known brands like tech leaders Apple

and Samsung as well as beauty specialists Estee Lauder and Laneige. The ecommerce tug-of-war

continues.

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VIETNAM BUSINESS REVIEW | START-UP 5

START-UP

Start-up recycles used containers for stores targeting young owner, customer

Hoang Tuan Anh has realised his start-up dream by creating the first shopping and entertaining

complexes in HCM City to use recycled containers.

The 32-year-old Tuan Anh is no stranger to the local start-up

industry as he once ran a successful startup on distribution

and installation of insulation panels in Australia.

His efficient business approach earned him a stable income

and an opportunity to work with an Australian submarine

manufacturing port on a contract worth AU$50,000, followed

by other significant projects.

After returning to Vietnam in 2013 and pursuing businesses in

trading, real estate and smart locks, Tuan Anh opened Eco Box in Tan Phu District, a flea market complex

with an unusual concept.

For the first few months, half of his stores are provided rent-free to students as a way to support young

adults with a passion for startups.

As a result of Eco Box’s success, Tuan Anh later opened Rubik Zoo, a shopping, dining and entertaining

complex covering 5,000m2 and housing more than 300 shops in District 1.

“Rubik Zoo is an open, clean & smart space with many activities. It’s become a hangout spot for me and

my friends during the weekend or at night,” Thao Nguyen, 22, told Vietnam News.

Tuan Anh said that similar concepts can be seen in many countries, particular Australia and Thailand.

“There are plenty of projects in Thailand that have built food, fashion, and exhibition halls with used

containers at a low cost for young startups,” he said. “I’m glad to provide a space for youth to showcase

their talents and promote their products.”

“When it comes to business, it’s necessary to think about the benefits of partners. If I were to invest in

traditional shopping and entertaining complexes, I would have to return the land to authorities one

day,” Tuan Anh said.

Since containers are portable and can be moved to different areas, renters are able to secure their

property, he explained. “At Eco Box and Rubik Zoo, we value property protection of clients,” he said.

In addition to the two projects, Tuan Anh plans to invest $8 million in more used containers and build 20

hotels, with each having 50 to 100 rooms.

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VIETNAM BUSINESS REVIEW | START-UP 6

“Hotels and accommodation costs in HCM City are not cheap compared with other countries in the

region. Most tourists, especially backpackers, need a safe place at the lowest price to stay during their

visit,” he explained.

Tuan Anh is also looking for temporarily unoccupied land to build boarding houses with used containers

for students and factory workers at the lowest possible price.

“Having studied overseas, I understand how rental expenses can put pressure on poor students and

workers,” he explained.

Vietnam start-up investment rises 42%

Up to $291m was poured into Vietnamese start-ups last year, a year-on-year increase of 42 %, according

to a recent report by Topica Founder Institute (TFI).

92 start-ups received investment last year, almost a double from

2016. Domestic investors accounted for 64 deals, while foreign

investors made 28. For the first time, local venture capitalists and

angels bypassed foreigners in deal count. However, foreign

investors still generated higher deal value.

The amount domestic investors poured into Vietnamese start-ups

in the past year was only $46m, relatively modest compared with

the $245m from foreign investors.

Among investors, 500 Startups led in successful investment deals, with 11 acquisitions, followed by ESP

Capital, a new homegrown venture capital firm.

With $20m in establishing funds, ESP Capital is focused on technology start-up companies in their

beginning stages (pre-seed and seed funding stages), with investment funds from $50,000 to $300,000.

Thanks to the rise of domestic investment funds, Vietnamese firms like VIISA, ESP, VSV, 500 Startups

Viet Nam and Shark Tank have completed 49 early-stage deals last year.

Formerly known as a "unicorn" startup in Asia, Sea Group (formerly Garena) topped the list of investors

pouring capital into Vietnamese start-ups last year.

The report said that Sea paid $64m to acquire an 82% of stake in

Foody, a restaurant review start-up.

Besides, Sea also acquired two top Fintech and logistic players. The

details are undisclosed but the value is estimated at up to $50m.

CyberAgent Ventures, a venture capital fund from Japan, continues

to be one of the most active funds in Viet Nam.

The fund successfully exited four deals this year with Foody, CleverAds, Tiki and Vexere.

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VIETNAM BUSINESS REVIEW | RETAIL 7

RETAIL

Central Group pegs $6b for expansion

Thailand’s Central Group plans to invest more than THB200 billion (US$6.3 billion) over the next five

years on expanding its retail and hotel properties in Thailand and abroad.

It is especially targeting Vietnam, where it expects its retail business to grow by four times over the

period. The group aims for total revenue to reach THB397.3 billion this year, up 14% from last year.

The group will this year invest THB47.5 billion in business expansion both at home and overseas, which

is 27.8% more than last year. This excludes the possible acquisition of e-economy businesses.

Main focus

For overseas expansion, however, Vietnam is the group’s main focus. Central Group has grown there by

an average of 340% over the past five years. It is the largest foreign retailer in the country, with five core

business units: 31 malls (Big C), 59 food stores (Big C, Lanchi Mart), 49 fashion stores (Delala, Marks &

Spencer, Robins, Supersports), 79 stores for construction materials, home decoration and electrical

appliances (including B2S, PowerMall and Nguyen Kim), and three online platforms (B2S.com.vn,

NguyenKim.vn, Robins.vn).

The sales contribution from Vietnam would increase significantly from 13 per cent now to about 20

per cent over that period, he says. The company has 17,000-plus employees in Vietnam, serving

more than 175,000 customers a day.

An extra 459 stores will be opened in Thailand and Vietnam this year.

Retail part of mix for Capitaland Vietnam Hanoi project

CapitaLand Vietnam plans its first mixed-use project for Hanoi.

In Tay Ho district with West Lake views, the US$217 million project will comprise 19,000sqm of retail

space, about 213,000sqm of office space and 380 residences including SoHo apartments.

Its 0.9ha site connects to both the new and old business districts and is close to the diplomatic district

and new government offices as well as the expatriate enclave of Xuan Dieu. It is less than 20 minutes’

drive from Noi Bai International Airport.

The Singapore-based group has also set up its second commercial fund in Vietnam, CapitaLand Vietnam

Commercial Value-Added Fund (CVCVF), which has closed at $130 million and will have a life span of

eight years. CapitaLand and EA Commercial Holdings each hold a half interest in CVCVF, which will focus

on grade-A commercial properties.

After Singapore and Malaysia, Vietnam is the third-largest Southeast Asian market for CapitaLand. At the

end of December it had $717 million worth of gross assets under management in Vietnam.

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VIETNAM BUSINESS REVIEW | RETAIL 8

Vietnam’s foreign retail giants see different tales

While numerous foreign retail giants are planning to increase investment and expand their businesses to

exploit the market, Malaysian retail group Parkson has seen dropping sales before finally shutting down.

Rising size and numbers among shopping malls

Increased consumption and consumer demand in recent years made Vietnam a more desirable

destination for several international retailers. Notably, Japanese shopping mall developer AEON Mall see

big opportunities in the local market and plan to expand its footprint when they continually open malls

in the nation wide (2 in Hanoi, 1 in Haiphong, 1 in HCMC and 1 in Binh Duong).

Meanwhile, Lotte Group’s modern retail business not only enriches the Vietnamese retail scene with a

unique retail and entertainment model, but also provides Vietnamese customers with a wide range of

diversified products from South Korea and places around the world.

The giant corporation plans to expand its retail operations in Vietnam through mergers and acquisitions

and plans to have 60 shopping malls in the country by 2020, a five-fold increase, according to Nikkei.

Parkson’s demise

The Vietnamese unit of Parkson Holdings Berhad, the retail arm of Malaysian conglomerate Lion Group,

will officially close Parkson Flemington, its second store in HCMC after eight years of operation due to

massive operating losses. This will make the fourth store to be closed in Vietnam.

Dinh My Loan, chairman of the Vietnam Retail Association (VSA), said that in recent years shopping

malls in Vietnam were blooming both in size and number, but many of them were struggling to survive

as the purchasing power was not equal to the pricing of goods in malls like Trang Tien Plaza, Grand Plaza

or Hang Da Galleria, to cite a few examples.

Mai Vo, Retail and Business Development manager at Cushman & Wakefield Vietnam, said that

nowadays customers’ shopping trends were leaning towards malls that offer a diverse range of shopping

categories in one space.

Parkson Holdings Berhad operates a total of 68 department stores in Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and

Myanmar. Under the Parkson brand name, it has 45 stores in Malaysia, six in Vietnam, two in Indonesia,

and one in Myanmar. In Indonesia, it also has 13 stores under the brand name of Centro Lifestyle

Department Store.

The Parkson retail chain in Vietnam is one of the Parkson Holdings Berhad units suffering the bleakest

business results. Notably, in the financial year of 2017, Parkson Vietnam and Parkson Myanmar reported

a revenue of VND600 billion ($26.2 million) only, decreasing 9 per cent on-year. The two units also

reported a loss of VND29 billion ($1.27 million).

Along with Vietnam, Parkson reports massive losses in Malaysia and Indonesia.

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VIETNAM BUSINESS REVIEW | LOGISTICS 9

LOGISTICS

FLC wants to buy 24 Airbus planes

Vietnamese property developer FLC Group wants to buy 24 Airbus A321neo aircraft for its planned

Bamboo Airways operation up until, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

FLC said it expects to buy another 24 Airbus A321 long-range planes after the Vietnamese firm obtains

an airline licence from the Vietnamese government, the firm said in a statement on its website after

meeting with Airbus representatives.

Vietnam has four airlines, including flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, budget operator Jetstar Pacific Airlines

partly owned by Vietnam Airlines, budget carrier Vietjet Aviation and Vietnam Air Services Co.

Ship-building industry needs special policies

New investment projects committed by Singaporean investors and orders from South Korea have

signalled a revival of the shipbuilding industry in 2018.

However, it will be a difficult task to obtain a growth rate of

6-8% by 2020.

Vietnam’s shipbuilding industry received good news in early

January 2018: four investors from Singapore decided to pour

$50m into a shipyard belonging to Triyards, a joint venture in

Dong Xuyen Industrial Zone (IZ) in Vung Tau City.

In 2017, Pha Rung Shipyard Company launched the first ocean liner named YN YEOSU. This is one of four

vessels ordered by a South Korean partner. This is the first big order Pha Rung has received after six

years of deadlock because of the shipping industry crisis.

Also in 2017, the Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (SBIC) won contracts on building 6500 ton oil and

chemical vessels from South Korean ship owners.

SBIC and South Korean partners are negotiating the building of 10,000 ton and larger vessels, which

would bring Vietnam new opportunities for export.

Big challenges

2018 will be the time for new conventions, with stricter requirements, to take effect. These include new

regulations of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) or the Monitoring, Reporting and

Verification of Carbon Dioxide Emissions (EU MRV).

Stricter requirements would increase competition among shipping firms. Maritime shipping firms will

have to upgrade their fleets to satisfy the requirements. This will give golden opportunities to Vietnam’s

shipbuilding industry.

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VIETNAM BUSINESS REVIEW | INVESTMENT 10

INVESTMENT

Vietnam smart town draws Japan Inc.’s big names

Japan's government and more than 20 companies are teaming up to construct a smart town in Vietnam

by 2023, featuring self-driving buses and a host of energy-saving technology.

General trader Sumitomo Corp., machinery maker Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and subway operator

Tokyo Metro are among the businesses on board. Valued at nearly 4 trillion yen ($37.3 billion), this

stands to be the largest Japan-led overseas project to date, according to officials of the Japanese

companies involved.

The endeavor, which also involves Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, will be financed

from a number of sources: funds the companies raise themselves, overseas development assistance

from Japan and subsidies from the Vietnamese government.

The trade ministry and the Japan International Cooperation Agency will support the companies by

conducting research and negotiating with the Vietnamese side.

All of this is in line with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's policy of promoting "high-quality

infrastructure investment" in emerging countries. The idea is to win overseas orders by promoting the

quality and convenience of Japanese technology, rather than offering discounts. The government sees

the smart town as an ideal showcase not just for large facilities, like power stations, but also innovations

that are closer to consumers.

The Sumitomo-led consortium has struck a tie-up deal with Vietnamese real estate company BRG Group.

Japanese architecture firm Nikken Sekkei is to design the town, which will be built on 310 hectares just

north of Hanoi. The drive to the central part of the capital will take about 15 minutes.

The first phase could start as early as October, with 7,000 condo units and commercial facilities to be

built by the end of next year.

The condos, aimed at middle-income consumers, will go for the equivalent of 10 million yen to 15

million yen. Sumitomo and BRG will mainly share an initial investment of $1 billion.

Mitsubishi Heavy will provide self-driving buses and charging stations for electric vehicles. This will help

keep emissions-spewing cars and motorcycles off the streets.

Smart appliances from Panasonic and smart meters from KDDI will help the town conserve energy,

while Daikin Industries plans to develop an air-conditioning system that best suits the Hanoi area's

humid climate. Japanese supermarket operators, including the Aeon group and Summit, intend to open

outlets.

Houses will be equipped with solar panels and food waste recycling equipment.

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VIETNAM BUSINESS REVIEW | INVESTMENT 11

Line 2 of the Hanoi Metro, which is being built with Japanese ODA, will be extended to the site. The plan

is for the line to be further extended to Noi Bai International Airport, so it is expected to help bring

foreign visitors to the town.

The corporate players see a chance to demonstrate their expertise in developing station buildings and

areas along railway lines, hoping to win orders from other countries. Southeast Asia is seeing a flurry of

railway and urban development, and interest in smart towns is high.

Singapore's government and businesses are developing smart towns in Malaysia.

Japanese companies already have their hands in a number of urban development projects in the region.

Mitsubishi Corp., for example, has worked with a local conglomerate on a 2.3 trillion yen project in

Indonesia. But the Vietnamese project is the first to attract such a large group of major players.

Aside from buildings and high-tech equipment, the companies plan to leave behind another hallmark of

Japan: 3,000 cherry trees capable of thriving in the local environment.

Vietnam utility places solar plant order with Japan’s JGC

A Vietnamese electricity utility company has entered a deal for Japanese plant engineering

company JGC to design and build a 50-megawatt solar power generation plant, JGC's first to build such a

plant overseas.

The order from Gia Lai Electricity is estimated at over 5 billion yen ($47.4 million), with the facility to be

set up in Krong Pa district in southern Gia Lai Province by November.

It was Vietnam's second deal to design and build a large solar plant since the government introduced a

feed-in tariff program in March 2017. Competitors for the deal included Chinese and German

companies.

Vietnam currently relies mainly on coal and hydroelectric power generation. The government aims to

increase the proportion of renewable energy, raising total solar power generation to 12,000MW by 2030

-- the equivalent of about 12 nuclear reactors -- from nearly zero now.

JGC is known as a leading global builder of liquefied natural gas plants. But as crude oil prices began

slumping in 2014, demand for new LNG facilities has shrunk. The company now seeks to use its know-

how in design, procurement and construction of solar power plants built up in its home market to meet

growing demand for solar energy in Southeast Asia.

It set up a unit responsible for infrastructure deals overseas last year, and aims to win about four solar

plant orders a year on average, worth an annual total of about 20 billion yen, from countries such as the

Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and others in the region.

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VIETNAM BUSINESS REVIEW | INVESTMENT 12

For more information, please contact us:

SEIKO IDEAS - 12th Anniversary

Research & Consulting Division

Our services Marketing Research

Business Matching

Investment Consulting

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Manufacturers, Retail companies

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Address Floor 5th

– A Chau Building

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Email [email protected]``

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