Game on Mobile Phone Industry in Vietnam

  About 3-4 years ago, the world's game industry is undergoing a very big transformation, witnessing the rise of mobile gaming which outperformed the traditional platforms such as PC or console. In Vietnam, the gaming industry also falls in line with the world trend, many new companies or even large organization had developed mobile game.

In 2015, internet users in Vietnam reached 45 million, accounting for 48.4% of the total population of 93 million. The smartphone users reached 24 million, accounting for 25.8% of the total population, of which 9.3 million of mobile gamers and players loaded fee rate was 45%, reaching ARPPU index (average revenue average per player) is $ 27.71 (619.000 VND).

Until the end of 2015, the number of smartphone devices in Vietnam has reached $37 million, accounting for 52% the total number of mobile devices in the country. It can be seen from the General Statistic Office that from 2012 to 2015, 10 million devices have entered Vietnam’s market each year. Besides, Vietnam's market has not come to saturation, so the potential growth for mobile gaming devices will continue to stay strong for at least 5-10 more years.

In terms of proportion of smartphone users based on age, the largest groups is from the age of 16-34 years old which accounted for 80% in 2015. In this group, the users from 16 - 24 years old take up to 45%. Besides, it can be noticed a remarkable rise of user groups of the age of 16-24 since this percentage rose from 20% in 2013 to 45% in 2015, indicating a huge change of demand of smartphone and purchasing power of smartphone.

If classifying users according to operating system, Android is still the most popular operating system in Vietnam in 2015 which accounted for 60% of users, followed by the 25% of iOS and Windows phone has the smallest market share of 15%. However, Windows phone showed significant change in 2015 when compared to 2014 (4%).  It indicates the development of a new market alongside iOS and Android. This is a unique point in the Vietnam mobile gaming market compared to other countries.

In terms classification depending on by device users and gender, smartphone devices still dominated completely with 90.3%, while tablet only accounted for 9.7%. In terms of gender, the rate does not differ hugely with 58% male and 42% female.

Smartphone game market value in Vietnam in 2015 reach $ 116 million (2,592 billion VND), the growth rate was 39.75% compared with 83 million dollars (1,854 billion VND) in 2014.

In terms of marketing channel for mobile gamers, social network such as Facebook channel remains an ideal place to promote game which accounted for 45%, followed by the local ad network (Admicro, Nova Ads ...) accounting 30%, while Google and PR normally accounts for respectively 15% and 10%. Thus, both domestic companies that wish to penetrate the market will be highly recommended to use the ad unit local to achieve optimum efficiency.

In a paid form of payment, Vietnamese users can mainly use the phone (85%) to pay for the mobile gaming, followed by domestic bank card (10%) and Visa / MasterCard (5%). Thus, the mobile game usually have good links with the network provider of mobile phones in Vietnam. It is due to the fact that the users have not had the habit of using cards.

Finding the right business partner in Vietnam is also important. We recommend doing research on the reputation of the company and individual shareholders, corporate or individual, gathering publicly available company information, and performing background checks on key personnel to find potential risks in cooperation. Working with a reliable partner can help achieve economic benefits, saving time and money in business.

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Thai Billionaires and M&A Activities in Vietnam

  The billion-dollar acquisitions of Thai billionaires have brought Thailand to become a formidable force in M&A activities in Vietnam and Asia.

Big C Vietnam has fallen into the hands of billionaire Tos Chirathivat – the boss of Central Group (Thailand) from Casino Group (France) for 1.05 billion USD. In 2015, this group also spent about 100 million USD to acquire Nguyen Kim - the leading retailer in the electronics market. Recently, the Group also spent 10 million USD to acquire the business segments in Thailand and Vietnam of Zalora (belongs to Global Fashion Group of Rocket Internet Corporation).

Previously, billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi - owner of TCC Holdings (Thailand) spent 655 million Euros to buy 19 centers and relating real estates of Metro Cash & Cary Vietnam. Also, Berli Jucker (BJC), a subsidiary of TCC Holdings also acquired Family Mart Vietnam. Especially, along with the acquisition of Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam, billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi also through the Singapore Beverage Group - Fraser & Neave (F&N) became the 2^nd largest shareholder in Vinamilk with 11.04% share. Currently, Thaibev which also belongs to this billionaire is racing to buy 40% share in Saigon beer (Sabeco), with a value of 1 billion USD.

In fact, the trend that Thai businesses acquired businesses outside their national borders is not new. In 2012, Siam Cement Group (SCG) of Thailand signed an agreement to buy 85% share in Prime Group JSC (Vietnam) at the price of 7.2 billion Baht (nearly 5,000 billion VND). This is also the biggest M&A deal in the field of building materials in Vietnam so far.

In the plastic industry, currently, SCG has invested in more than 20 Vietnam plastic enterprises. Particularly, the most significant investment is to buy 80% share in Tin Thanh Plastic Company, a top enterprise in the field of plastic packaging of Vietnam. SCG also holds large shares in 4 companies specialized in manufacturing plastic household – packaging in Vietnam, which are Vietnam - Thai Plastchem Joint Venture, TPC Vina Plastic and Chemical, Minh Thai and Chemtech Plastic Materials.

Currently, SCG is also the 2^nd largest shareholder in Tien Phong Plastics and Binh Minh Plastics, just after State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC). Moreover, SCIC planned to divest from this two plastics companies. This will create opportunities for Nawaplastic Industries to increase its shares in Tien Phong Plastics and Binh Minh Plastics. SCG continues to seek opportunities to invest in Vietnam's plastic industry.

Most recently, the Ton Poh Thailand Fund has spent 130 billion VND to buy 5.9 million shares of Hoang Huy Investment – Service Company, equivalent to 5.32% of the charter capital of the company. In addition to Hoang Huy, Ton Poh Thailand Fund also owns nearly 6% share of Cotec Construction Company.

An open economic space will create significant opportunities for investment flows. The formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), which expected to take effect from 2018, is the impetus for investment flows into the country in this area. The race has just begun for the countries, investors and Thailand businesses seem to hold this game.

The billion-dollar acquisitions of ambitious billionaires brought Thailand to become a powerful force in M&A activity in Asia. According to experts, the deal with the presence of Thai companies in the M&A market in Asia has increased rapidly, just behind China, Korea and India.

In particular, the market of more than 600 million people of AEC is considered as a more stable market than most emerging markets in the world. The growth opportunities for businesses here will be very attractive, regardless of Thailand, Vietnam enterprises or from other economies.

To sum up, according to economic analysts, the increase of M&A activities will be the obvious result due to the free trade between the countries in goods, services and human resources.

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Private Hospital Projects Attract Foreign Investment

  After many domestic investors failed to invest in the construction of private hospital, from 2014 until now, especially in the first months of 2016, there were many foreign investors interested in this area.

Recently, a US delegation composed of more than 40 representatives from US leading hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, medical equipment companies, research institutions and medical training institutions came to offer Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) leaders, as well as with the 175 Military Hospital to join hands and develop the private health sector under the health socialization policy of HCMC till 2020.

According to the chairman and founder of the worldwide health service network company, they want to invest in Vietnam medical sector. If so, in addition to investment in infrastructure and equipment in the public - private cooperation model, investors also need to invest in manpower training and hospital management model to operate more efficiently.

According to the Director of the HCMC Health Department, the city is having a lot of large projects that need the cooperation of both domestic and foreign investors such as the Health Complex in Tan Kien, Binh Chanh District, with many projects such as the City Children's Hospital, Hospital of Otolaryngology campus 2, Hematology and Blood Transfusion Hospital, Oncology Hospital, Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medical campus 2...

The Government of Vietnam is conducting the socialization schedule  in the medical field. In fact, the total health expenditures of 93 million people in Vietnam now accounts for 5.8% of GDP, the highest in ASEAN, which is said to become the magnet for investors in this market.

In 2016, many foreign investors such as Bumrungrad Hospital Corporation (Thailand) and Lippo Group (Indonesia) have expressed their intention to develop hospital chain in Vietnam. This is considered a good time to invest in Vietnam health sector.

In a recent meeting with leaders of Vietnam Government, Temasek Corporation (Singapore) said that in the coming time, this corporation wish to promote investment activities in Vietnam, in which they will mainly invest in health sector by building private hospitals.

Earlier, in January 2014, Shangrila Corporation of Malaysia has invested to build Thanh Do Hospital in Binh Tan district, HCMC. The hospital has 320 beds, 21 clinical and subclinical specialties such as obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, surgery, cardiology, otolaryngology, ophthalmology, urology, cancer, hepatobiliary, digestion... Until June 2015, the hospital has announced to change their name and logo into City International Hospital (CIH).

At the beginning of 2016, the investors in the health sector continues to surprise when VOF Investment Fund (managed by VinaCapital) announced to takeover 75% stake in Thai Hoa International Hospital in Dong Thap province. The amount of money that VOF invested here is about 10 million USD.

According VOF, in the coming time, the Fund will continue to seek investment opportunities in the healthcare sector, including investment opportunities in equitized public hospitals if they feel attractive enough.

Finding the right business partner in Vietnam is also important. We recommend doing research on the reputation of the company and individual shareholders, corporate or individual, gathering publicly available company information, and performing background checks on key personnel to find potential risks in cooperation. Working with a reliable partner can help achieve economic benefits, saving time and money in business.

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India Interested in Vietnam’s Power and Renewable Energy Projects

  On November 2^nd 2016, the Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam had a meeting with Indian Industry Federation, led by Mr. Naushad Forbes, President of the Federation and Chairman of Forbes Mashall Pvt Ltd, came to visit Vietnam.

According to Mr. Naushad Forbes, currently, Indian companies are investing and developing infrastructure and thermal power projects in Vietnam, such as Long Phu thermal power project and through the business forum of the two countries, the two sides are also interested in seeking opportunities to invest in Vietnam in the field of renewable energy, information technology, adaptation to climate change and many other areas.

Representatives of the enterprises under the Indian Industry Federation expressed their confidence in the political, economic and trade relationship of the two countries. They suggested that the two-way trade turnover currently stands at 5 billion USD are still low and not commensurate with the potential of the two countries. Furthermore, the Indian businesses also affirmed that they will do their best to promote investment cooperation, long-term trade between business communities of the two countries in the coming time.

Indian businesses desire the Government of Vietnam to support and remove difficulties for the joint project of the two countries in construction, transfer of technology in a number of hydropower plants, production and assembly car (a joint venture between Tata Group and TMT Group) and invest in pumping systems in urban to prevent flooding, pharmaceuticals, transport infrastructure...

According to Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam, for many years, Vietnam is an investment destination of many large enterprises around the world. Despite the world economic recover slowly and uneven. Moreover, Vietnam economy has to face with difficulties coming from natural disasters and climate change, the economic growth in the first 9 months of 2016 rose by 6% and export still grew by 8%, while many economies’ export growth is low or negative.

In Vietnam, the Enterprise Law and the Investment Law (amended) are creating favorable business investment environment and the Government also has policy to develop 1 million businesses by 2020. In such conditions, the Vietnam Deputy Prime Minister affirmed that Vietnam will create favorable conditions for investors, both domestic and foreign so that Indian businesses will invest in Vietnam more, especially when Vietnam is a member of the 10 free trade agreements of the important areas in the world.

Deputy Prime Minister evaluated that the members of the Federation are strong India businesses, that are investing in the areas that Vietnam is prioritize the development such as energy, renewable energy, information technology... Deputy Prime Minister suggested that Indian businesses need to promote cooperation and investment in projects in the no. 7 electrical diagram of Vietnam, especially is to promote the Long Khanh Thermal Power Project. In addition, Indian companies can also participate in the value chains of Vietnam in the fields of textiles and footwear when the TPP agreement will take effect in the coming time.

Vietnam also encourage cooperation forms such as BOT, PPP and even franchised highway toll collection for foreign partners when meeting the necessary requirements; encouraging investment, transferring of technology, energy-saving machinery in automotive manufacturing, construction industry...

Finding the right business partner in Vietnam is also important. We recommend doing research on the reputation of the company and individual shareholders, corporate or individual, gathering publicly available company information, and performing background checks on key personnel to find potential risks in cooperation. Working with a reliable partner can help achieve economic benefits, saving time and money in business.

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President of Ireland visit Vietnam and Promote Investment

  President Michael D. Higgins has begun a State visit to Vietnam to promote cooperation with Vietnam and encourage Irish businesses's investment and setting up companies in various sectors, including trade - investment, education - training, green technology, wind energy, agriculture, health and sustainable development.

Vietnam and Ireland trade turnover has grown strongly in recent years (particularly for first 9 months of 2016, which reached USD 798 million, more than 3 times compared to the same period of 2015). Vietnam agrees to create favorable conditions and encourage enterprises Ireland to set-up company in Vietnam to promote trading, technology transfer, especially in the areas of investing in renewable (wind) energy projects, agriculture and food processing, information, communication, medical, and aviation..., especially in the context of the free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the EU is about to be signed and implemented. The two sides also agreed to consider education, training as key areas of cooperation in the future and encourages higher education establishments of the two countries.

It is appreciated that Government of Ireland considers Vietnam as a priority partner in development cooperation policy, and that projects funded by Ireland have been effectively implemented, which contribute significantly to the Vietnam social economic development. According to President Michael D. Higgins, Ireland will soon announce the national strategy for development cooperation with Vietnam in the period 2017 - 2020 to support poverty reduction, adaptation to climate change and implementation of the sustainable development objectives.

Wishing to strengthen the friendship and mutual understanding between the people of Vietnam and Ireland, the two sides agreed to promote cultural exchanges, art and promote the role of the Vietnamese community Vietnam in Ireland, contributing to boosting bilateral cooperation in other fields.

The state visit of Ireland President will definitely open a new chapter of economic relationship between Vietnam and Ireland, laying grounds for further investment from Irish investors in various sectors, especially in wind energy investment, aviation, education, technology, medical and many other opportunities, through direct investment i.e. setting up companies, investing in projects in Vietnam in various forms.

We, ANT Consulting company, support you with the service of setting up a company in Vietnam, Risk management in Vietnam, Employee background check in Vietnam... to help you shorten the implementation time.

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Vietnam Technology Startup Attracts Foreign Enterprises

  Technology startup in Vietnam is increasingly attractive. Many foreign enterprises are interested in this area and showing their desire to set up business in Vietnam.

According to Mr Mitchell Pham, president of the New Zealand Technology Association (NZTech) - who is known to be the 1^st native of Vietnam elected to become the chairman of NZTech, representing for over 400 technology enterprises New Zealand: “All trip participants were impressed with the development of science and technology in Vietnam. We are looking for specific opportunities for cooperation with Vietnam-tech enterprise".

More information about the members of the delegation, Mr Mitchell Pham said that back to Vietnam this time, accompanied him are 6 young leaders of technology enterprises in New Zealand with a desire to learn and exchange with technology businesses in Vietnam, in order to create connection for long-term investment goals.

In terms of the favorable conditions, according to Mr Mitchell Pham, trade relations between New Zealand and Vietnam have the fastest growth rate in Southeast Asia with 120% in the period 2010 - 2015. Two-way trade of the two countries in 2015 has reached 1 billion USD.

Moreover, Vietnam is known as the country with the booming information technology market and the government is also trying to create more incentives for this sector. Meanwhile, technology businesses in New Zealand have experiences and large operating network, certainly the cooperation and investment in Vietnam will be intensified in the coming period.

According Chicilon Media, Vietnam technology market, especially Ho Chi Minh City is developing extremely powerful. Consumers is having trend to access to communication products and services via smartphones instead of traditional media such as TV, poster... Hence, this Company has strengthened their strategy focusing on channels to access information over the phone and access to a diverse range of partners such as the startup.

In parallel, the growth of mobile devices will continue in the coming years. Therefore, the approach to the users of mobile devices – who are moving to the final stage of the shopping journey and going to buy the product - becomes extremely important. Currently, marketing on mobile devices is evaluated as a simple marketing channels, rapid deployment and easy to access to customers.

Finding the right business partner in Vietnam is also important. We recommend doing research on the reputation of the company and individual shareholders, corporate or individual, gathering publicly available company information, and performing background checks on key personnel to find potential risks in cooperation. Working with a reliable partner can help achieve economic benefits, saving time and money in business.

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Binh Duong Welcomed 1 Billion USD Project

  Many foreign corporations have chosen Vietnam to become their investment destination to set up business in Vietnam and the most recent project coming from a Korean investor. This is the project to produce tire and automobile airbags of Kolon Industries Corporation (Korea). This "super plant" will be located at Bau Bang Industrial Zone of Binh Duong province.

Mr Tran Thanh Liem - Chairman of Binh Duong Province has just signed a memorandum of understanding with leader of Kolon Industries Group (Korea) concerning the implementation of the plant to produce tire and automobile airbag with investment capital up to 1 billion USD. On this occasion, Becamex IDC Corporation has also announced that Kolon Industries leases from them nearly 42 hectares of land in Bau Bang Industrial Zone (Binh Duong province) to put the plant on.

According to Kolon Industries Corporation, after more than two years of searching and working with many units and localities in and outside the territory of Vietnam, the Corporation has selected the Bau Bang Industrial Park as the location to implement the project to produce tire and automobile air bag in Vietnam. The expected total investment capital of the project for all three phases is about 1 billion USD, in which the Phase 1 from 2017 to 2018 is 220 million USD, Phase 2 from 2018 to 2026 is 600 million USD and after that is the Phase 3.

Established since 1954, Kolon is one of Korea’s transnational corporations in multiple industries with high-tech products: tire, automobile air bag, film to use in electricity industry, electronics, fashion….

By the end of October 2016, Binh Duong has 2,818 investment projects from 59 countries and territories with a total capital of 25, 6 billion USD. In particular, Korea is the country ranks 3^rd with 594 projects and a total investment of nearly 2.4 billion USD.

We, ANT Consulting company, support you with the service of set up a company in Vietnam, Risk management in Vietnam, Employee background check in Vietnam... to help you shorten the implementation time.

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