VietNamNet Bridge - Investing billions of US dollars abroad, many Vietnamese corporations have gradually harvested "sweet fruit" in recent years.

After years of doing business in Africa and the Americas, the financial statements 2015 of the Military Telecom Group (Viettel) recorded approximately $1.5 billion revenue from overseas market of its total revenue of nearly VND223,000 billion ($9.1 billion).

During the year, Viettel also inaugurated its telecom networks in the two new markets of Tanzania and Burundi. So far the group has been present in 10 countries in Asia, the Americas, and Africa, and provides telecom services to approximately 75 million customers.

Another name that has long invested overseas – FPT Corporation - earned $221 million of revenues from overseas market last year, an increase of 41% compared to 2014. Profit before tax was estimated at $31 million, up 17%.

FPT, one of the largest technological corporations in Vietnam, said it has achieved some success, especially in new markets such as Myanmar and Bangladesh.

In Myanmar, FPT is the first foreign enterprise licensed to provide telecommunications services, to deploy the national backbone infrastructure to supply a full range of fixed and value-added telecommunications services.

FPT aims to earn $1 billion in revenue from overseas markets by 2020. It plans to expand overseas operations through upgrading its overseas branches and conducting M&A.

The corporation will expand the business from trade to investment in the form of PPP (Public–private partnership) for some markets such as Myanmar and Bangladesh.

The Vietnam Dairy Product JSC (Vinamilk) is also seeking huge revenue from abroad investments and export of milk.

In 2015, Vinamilk earned revenue of over VND40 trillion, profit after tax of up to VND7,769 billion. In particular, revenue from abroad grew highly, with approximately VND8,000 billion, up 39%, equivalent to nearly VND2,200 billion compared with 2014.

In fact, Vinamilk started its overseas investment strategy quite early through joint ventures with Miraka Limited to build a milk processing plant in New Zealand.

To date, Vinamilk has invested more than $13 million in Miraka. In 2014 the company also injected capital into a business in Cambodia to provide milk for this market.

Earlier, in 2013, Vinamilk spent $7 million to buy 70% stake in Driftwood Dairy Holdings (USA), which specializes in the production and distribution of dairy products, snacks, and juice.

At the same time Vinamilk established a company in Poland to supply raw materials, process dairy and beverage products.

The pioneer in overseas investment of the mining industry of Vietnam is the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam).

In a press conference in mid-2015, Mr. Vu Van Nghiem, Head of PetroVietnam Foreign Project Department, said the group had invested in 17 projects abroad, mainly in the fields of oil and gas exploration and exploitation.

The total investment capital was up to $2.6 billion. Overseas investments helped PetroVietnam increase its oil and gas reserves to 170 million tons.

So far, PetroVietnam has exploited 5.4 million tonnes, earning profits of $470 million.

In the context of Vietnam’s deeper integration into the world economy, many Vietnamese businesses have invested billions of US dollars abroad.

Most recently, TH Group poured $2.7 billion in a high-tech dairy cow breeding and milk processing project in Moscow.

At the same time, Masan Group decided to sell 25% of its stake to Singha beer of Thailand with a value of $1.1 billion.

Masan’s purpose in this deal is to expand the food and beverage market throughout the Southeast Asian region, with a focus on Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos, a market with 250 million consumers.

Some banks such as Vietinbank, BIDV, Agribank ... are expanding their branches abroad, especially in ASEAN.

According to the Foreign Investment Department (Ministry of Planning and Investment), Vietnamese businesses have invested nearly $20.5 billion abroad.

The major markets are Laos, Cambodia, Africa, and the Americas, and the major fields are mining, agriculture, and telecommunications.

Nam Nguyen