Malaysia’s Berjaya Land Bhd. (BLand) has finally decided to sell its entire stake at Berjaya Vietnam Financial Center Limited (BVFC) to local real estate developers Vinhomes and Can Gio Tourist City Corporation for VND884.93 billion ($38.7 million).

In a statement published on Bursa Malaysia, BLand, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Berjaya Leisure (Cayman) Limited (BLeisure Cayman), signed a capital transfer agreement to sell the entire 32.5 per cent capital contribution in BVFC to local firms Vinhomes and Can Gio.

According to the agreement, Vinhomes will pay VND871.32 billion ($38.16 million), while Can Gio will pay VND13.61 billion.

BVFC, which has not commenced operations, is developing a project comprised of an office building, a five-star hotel, serviced residences, and a shopping mall on a 6.64-hectare land plot in Ho Chi Minh City.

Together with the proposed BVIUT disposal, the BLand group is also in negotiations on the potential sale of another of its Vietnamese subsidiaries.

Initially, BLeisure Cayman’s capital contribution of VND967.31 billion ($42.37 million) represented 100 per cent of the charter capital of BVFC.

However, following the conditions imposed by the Vietnamese authorities, BVFC was required to increase its charter capital and Vinhomes had in March 2018 injected VND2.01 trillion ($88.05 million) of fresh capital to fulfill the above requirement which resulted in the dilution of BLeisure Cayman’s holding to 32.5 per cent.

On the other side, in December 2017, Vinhomes and its affiliates spent massive funds buying a 99.2 per cent stake in Berjaya Vietnam International University Town One Member Limited Liability Company (BVIUT) from BLeisure Cayman.

According to a source of Dealstreetasia, BLeisure Cayman planned to dispose of the remaining 0.8 per cent stake in BVIUT in the near future.

“Together with the proposed BVIUT disposal, the BLand group is also in negotiations on the potential sale of another of its Vietnamese subsidiaries,” BLand told Dealstreetasia, but did not elaborate on the details.

BLand, an investment holding company, primarily operates in the Malaysian and international gaming and lottery management business. It operates Toto betting and related activities; motor vehicle dealership; property development and investment; hotels and resorts; as well as club, recreation, and others service segments.

Can Gio was established in September 2004 with a 99.05 per cent stake holding by Vinhomes. The principal activities of Can Gio include real estate trading, real estate brokerage, and real estate services.

Novaland opens Azerai Can Tho Resort

Novaland Group and the international hotel brand Azerai have officially inaugurated Azerai Can Tho Ecological Resort at Cai Rang district of Can Tho city on June 2.

The Azerai Can Tho project is the combination of the passion of the leading real estate developer in Vietnam—Novaland Group—and the Azerai Hotel brand of legendary hotelier Adrian Zecha, presenting a distinctive experience for visitors.

Positioned as “affordable luxury,” Azerai offers an ideal resting place, with a perfect blend of stunning landscape and heritage values of local culture and history, enriched by refined services, ensuring relaxation and discretion for world-class travelers.

According to Bui Thanh Nhon, chairman of Novaland Group, the Mekong River is beyond doubt a masterpiece of nature, filled with cultural history.

Famous for its variety of tropical fruits, fresh food and riverside beauty, Can Tho is truly a heritage for the generations to come.

“It is unfair for the Mekong Delta to suffer from climate change: rivers run out of fish, saltwater intrusion destroy crops, fertile gardens disappear, thousands of households are forced to leave their houses. That is why the Mekong Delta needs to be reserved with proper investment,” Nhon said.

Adrian Zecha, chairman of Azerai said that Vietnam is a fascinating and promising travel destination, and the Mekong Delta region is considered one of the most beautiful landscapes in Asia.

“With deep local understanding, Novaland Group shares Azerai’s orientation and business vision—to develop Azerai in line with sustainable tourism development in Can Tho. After three years of construction and lots of efforts by many people, Azerai has exceeded my expectations," Zecha said.

As one of the international guests who recently enjoyed her one-week stay in Azerai Can Tho, international supermodel Naomi Campbell also commented that with the inspiration of fashion, music, and traditional art conveyed in a fresh way, Azerai Can Tho offers a relaxing resort experience with great open spaces.

This is also the first project in the Nova Phu Sa chain of resorts developed by Novaland Group across the Mekong Delta region.

Will Toyota drop prices to take on imported competition?

Thousands of completely built-up (CBU) cars imported from the ASEAN and enjoying tariff exemption have arrived to Vietnamese seaports, while domestic automobile manufacturer Toyota Motor Vietnam has just expanded its local factory. Will TMV reduce the price of Toyota vehicles to compete with tax-exempt imports?

A cargo ship carrying thousands of CBU cars imported from Thailand has arrived at Haiphong Port several days ago, carrying Honda, Chevrolet, Ford, and Nissan vehicles, according to dantri.com.vn.

An officer at Haiphong Port told that this cargo ship came from Thailand and could carry around 4,000 vehicles. In late June, another cargo ship from Indonesia will arrive, carrying Toyota vehicles among others.

Thus, after a spell of quiet, tax-exempt imported cars from Thailand are flowing into Vietnam, matching consumers’ “thirst” for cars. Honda dealers sign contracts with customers and agree to handover the cars a few months later. Ford dealers also announced that they have no Rangers in stock, however, higher value orders are fast-tracked as per company policy.

Meanwhile, the Navara model is expected to enable Nissan to sharply increase sales after the Sunny and X-Trail models’ weak performance in the past months. Navara was the best-selling Nissan’s model last year.

All these new arrivals have to pass import testing before they can be marketed.

During the first months of the year, only Honda and General Motors have passed all requirements of Decree 116 to import tax-exempt CBU cars. Four Honda models (CR-V, Civic, Accord, and Jazz) were imported in early March, and started selling on the market half a month later. Meanwhile, GM only imported a batch of Chevrolet Trailblazers.

After successfully importing and discounting its first batch of tax-exempt cars by VND200 million ($8,800) for the first tax-exempted cars, Honda raised prices a short time later. A dealership told VIR that Honda CR-V vehicles went from the already rather high price of VND963 million ($42,500) to VND1.073 billion ($47,300), while the Honda Civic went from VND763 to 903 million ($33,600-40,000). On the other hand, some GM models have been reduced by $1,000-3,000.

The consumer demand seems to exceed the number of tax-exempt cars imported as consumers have been waiting for lower prices. However, it seems difficult to buy a cheap car, despite previous expectations.

In this context, TMV has just announced expanding manufacturing in Vietnam to 90,000 vehicles annually, while they sold only 50,381 semi-knocked down (SKD) cars in 2016 and 41,424 in 2017.

The Japanese auto-maker is considering reducing the number of SKD models assembled in Vietnam to two-three from the five before 2017 and the four in 2017.

TMV's president Toru Kinoshita said that while reducing the number of SKD models in Vietnam, they will increase the quantity of remaining SKD cars and reduce their cost. Additionally, TMV will maintain manufacturing in Vietnam if the annual output reaches 50,000 cars.

As a result, consumers can expect Toyota SKD models to get cheaper in the time to come. Against the thousands, even tens of thousans of tax-exempt cars imported from the ASEAN, reducing the price of SKD models may be an unavoidable policy for Toyota and other domestic automobile manufacturers.

Viettel announces business strategy for Mytel

Mytel’s development strategy will focus on trading in the data and new digital service segments in Myanmar, based on the four-word motto D-A-T-A.

Mytel’s D-A-T-A stands for Digital & new services, Advanced technology, Trustworthy, Affordable & various services.

According to the plan, within the first year of starting operations in Myanmar, Mytel will have 7,000 base transceiver stations (BTSs) nationwide and 30,000 kilometres of optical fibre cables.

After the official launching ceremony on June 6, Mytel will become the first and only telecommunication provider in Myanmar supplying 4G services nationwide.

This business plan is different from existing competitors’ who prioritise on rolling out 4G services in large cities before extending their reach to rural and remote areas.

Regarding the charges, at first, Mytel will charge calls and texts at half the going rate at competitors in Myanmar, while data charges will be even lower, at 37 per cent of market rates. Especially, calls will be billed in 1-second blocks instead of the current 15- or 20-second blocks from June 9.

In addition, on the occasion of opening, Mytel will issue the strategic data package named Mite Tal. Accordingly, by paying VND68,000 for this data package, customers will enjoy 5GB of data and 250 minutes of free calls for 30 days. Besides, they will enjoy 1.5 GB and 150 minutes (expiring in three months) plus a 100 per cent bonus on every top-up and calling rates will be billed in one-second blocks after the free calls are used up.

Le Dang Dung, deputy general director of Viettel, stated, “Mobile phone usage in Myanmar is not high yet, and the country’s economy has opened to foreign investment and is now growing at a fast pace, thus there are ample opportunities to develop the telecommunication industry. Mitel set the target to have 2-3 million customers in this year alone.”

Mytel is a joint venture company of Viettel Global, Myanmar National Telecom Holding Public Limited (MNTH), and Star High Public Company Limited (Star High). The company has a total investment capital of $2 billion, 49 per cent held by Viettel.

Mytel’s project has a total investment capital of $1.5 billion, equaling 66 per cent of Vietnam’s overseas investment in Myanmar.

With this project, Vietnam climbed from the 10th to the 7th position on the list of 49 countries and territories investing in Myanmar.

Mytel is the 4th mobile phone network in Myanmar, following state-owned MPT, which has a 42 per cent market share, Telenor from Norway (35 per cent), and Ooredoo from Qatar (23 per cent).

Myanmar is a potential market for Viettel due to its high economic growth speed. Additionally, it has the largest population among Viettel’s overseas markets, with 53 million.

Myanmar reported high growth in the telecommunication and technology sectors. Notably, the country used to rank among the countries with the lowest mobile phone usage in the world. However, in only three years, the rate of SIM cards per person increased to 90 per cent from 10 per cent. Besides, the number of people using data packages increased to 16 million from the 600,000 three years ago.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Myanmar could increase the scale of its economy four-fold to $200 billion by 2030. The IMF also said the finance, banking, energy, telecommunications, and IT sectors offer the most opportunities for foreign investors both in terms of market potential and human resources.

Viettel Global JSC (a subsidiary of Viettel Group), plans to list its shares on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UpCOM) in the second quarter of this year.

However, the firm has yet to disclose details about the share volume, its capitalization, as well as the date of listing.

Established in late 2007 with the charter capital of VND960 billion ($42.3 million), Viettel Global specialises in investing and developing infrastructure and telecommunications services abroad. At present, Viettel Group owns 98.68 per cent of the company.

Viettel Global is currently one of the biggest Vietnamese overseas investors. It now operates nine telecommunications companies in nine countries across Asia, Africa, and Asia, representing a total population of over 175 million people, 13 million of whom are Viettel customers.

In 2017, Viettel Global reported a net revenue of VND19.02 trillion ($833.5 million), up 24 per cent on-year and a consolidated profit of VND4.48 trillion ($196.3 million) and net profit of VND62 billion ($2.7 million).

US – major export market of southern Dong Nai province

The US is the largest export market for the southern province of Dong Nai, accounting for nearly 30% of the province’s total export value, according to the provincial Department of Industry and Trade.

Businesses in the southern province of Dong Nai have exported more than US$1.5 billion worth of products to the US since early this year, a year-on-year rise of 10%, with key products such as wood, bags, suitcases, hats, steel, coffee, pepper and seafood. Products with huge export values like footwear and garments grew by 4-10% against the same period last year.

However, the Ministry of Industry and Trade says the US legal system imposes many strict regulations on imported goods. In addition to common criteria, each state has its own regulations. Therefore, if Vietnamese businesses want to ship their products to the US, they must research the laws and regulations of individual states as well as the country.

Besides, the US will continue to protect its domestic goods by issuing new regulations on the quality and origin of products, particularly for agroforestry and seafood products, which causes a number of difficulties for goods exported from Dong Nai and for the whole country as well.

To avoid an overdependence on certain big markets, businesses in Dong Nai province are finding ways to expand to new markets, especially the countries Vietnam has signed free trade agreements with, to improve their competitiveness.

Duong Minh Dung, director of the provincial Department of Industry and Trade, says the province helps businesses keep traditional markets and supports them in market expansion to reduce risks due to an overdependence on certain markets.

Dong Nai has exported goods to 171 countries and territories around the world, including big markets such as the US, the Republic of Korea, Japan, China and Europe.

Asia Pacific Foundation hails growing Vietnam-Canada ties

Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, an independent and not-for-profit think-tank on Canada's relations with Asia, has given an analysis by Elizabeth McIninch on its webpage applauding Vietnam’s economic progress and its growing ties with Canada.

As the Chair of G7 this year, Canada has invited Vietnam to attend the G7 Summit due for later this week. The gesture helps uphold Vietnam’s higher position in the international arena and Canada’s respect to its relations with Vietnam on the occasion of their 45th anniversary diplomatic relations.

McIninch said Vietnam has been a center for the manufacturing of smart phones and technological devices of the world. The article noted a 20% increase on average in bilateral trade between Vietnam and Canada with US$6 billion generated last year.

Vietnamese students rank first among Southeast Asian peers in enrolments in Canadian universities with 14,000 students last year.

The article has a promising view about bilateral ties with more cooperation for mutual prosperity thanks to industrious people and close cooperation in trade, arts, science, and education.  

Rubber exports see robust growth in May

May’s rubber exports are estimated to have reached 93,000 tons, worth US$133 million, a rise of 31.7% in volume and 33% in value compared to April, and up 54.4% in volume and 32.1% in value against the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Last month’s results mean the country exported 424,000 tons of rubber in the first five months of the year, bringing in US$620 million, up 17.4% in volume but down nearly 20% in value on the corresponding period last year.

Meanwhile, according to statistics from Vietnam Customs, exports of most kinds of rubber during the first four months of the year saw growth compared to the same period last year, with SVR 3L up 14.3%, SVR 10 up 54.2%, RSS 3 up 66.2%, and SVR CV60 up 4.5%. Exports of synthetic rubber amounted to 163,880 tons valued at US$238.04 million, making up 49.4% of total rubber exports. However, export prices for rubber dropped sharply in the period, with SVR 5 down 30.8%, synthetic rubber down 28.7%, and SVR 3L down 26.7%.

Rubber prices on the world market began to rise in May due to a forecast of increased demand from China and India, which consume 48% of the global volume of natural rubber. Correspondingly, the prices of rubber latex in the Vietnamese provinces of Binh Phuoc, Binh Duong, and Tay Ninh also surged upwards.

The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) predicted the global output of natural rubber to reach 14.2 million tons this year, a year-on-year rise of 6.4%, while consumption volume is forecast to increase 6.4% to 14.3 million tons.

Vietnam, Canada boost trade ties

The participation of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in the G7 Outreach Summit and his visit to Canada from June 8-10 are expected to create more opportunities for Vietnamese and Canadian businesses to expand their partnership. 

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam is ranked fifth in Asia in terms of export turnover to Canada, after China, Japan, the Republic of Korea and China’s Taiwan. 

The bilateral trade enjoys an annual average growth of 20-25 percent and hit nearly 6 billion USD in 2017.

Vietnam mainly exported mobile phones, printers, electric cables, telecommunication equipment, wood furniture, garment-textile, footwear, aquatic products, coffee, cashew nuts, means of transportation and spare parts, sport equipment, rubber, plastic products, and processed fruit and vegetables to Canada. 

The Southeast Asian country imported from Canada agro-fishery products, soft wood, medicines, wine, navigation services, high technology and clean technology.

Canada is ranking 13th among the total 112 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with 161 projects worth 5.2 billion USD.

Vietnamese Trade Counselor in Canada Do Thi Thu Huong said there is still large room for Vietnamese enterprises to boost exports to Canada, a country that relies on imports for consumer goods. Although the country’s market scale is only one tenth of the US’ but its per capita import value doubles that of the US.

She noted that made-in-Vietnam goods only make up over one percent of Canada’s total imports.

According to Huong, the large number of people of Asian origin, including around 250,000 Vietnamese, in Canada is an advantage for businesses to boost exports of farm produce to the market. 

The trade official added that the Canadian Government plans to diversify the market and reduce its import from the US. Therefore, Vietnam is one of the nations with which Canadian companies want to increase trade and investment ties, she said.

Huong revealed that the Vietnamese Trade Office in Canada has worked with Canada’s Trade Facilitation Office to implement projects helping Vietnamese firms make inroads into the market.

Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh appreciated Canada’s dynamism in cooperation with the ASEAN alongside with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). 

In the context of rising protectionism, the role of countries with remarkable influence such as Canada is very important to international integration and globalization, the minister said. 

He was of the view that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and other bilateral and multilateral trade deals that both Vietnam and Canada might join will continue to provide an impetus for globalization.

Minister Tuan Anh affirmed that Vietnam shares other ASEAN countries’ interest in researching and reaching a free trade agreement between the bloc and Canada besides the RCEP and other regional cooperative framework.

The ministry has directed trade offices and relevant units to apply measures to boost exports of Vietnamese key products to Canada, he said.

Apart from long-term strategies, businesses should make use of commitments and incentives from the signed agreements such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the RCEP to promote exports to Canada, the minister added.

Over the past two decades, Canada has been one of the leading providers of development assistance for Vietnam.

Canada considers Vietnam a priority partner in Asia in its global market action plan, international education strategy, and development assistance policy.

The two countries have also closely work at multilateral mechanisms such as the United Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum, and the International Organization of Francophone (IOF).