Singapore takes lead among biggest FDI investors in Vietnam
Singapore leads in FDI inflows into Vietnam in 2020, with a total investment of nearly 9 billion USD,
Investment funds of the Singapore Government and private corporations have poured about 80-90 billion USD into Vietnam in recent years, present in most fields and leading large enterprises.
Billion USD cash flow from two Singapore government funds, GIC and Temasek
GIC is Singapore's sovereign wealth fund. As US-China tensions have increased since 2018, the company is making significant investments in emerging markets like India, Indonesia, and Vietnam and diversifying its manufacturing away from China.
GIC is estimated to have assets of more than 700 billion USD. Recently, GIC invested heavily in infrastructure and real estate projects to avoid inflation.
Meanwhile, Temasek Holdings is an agency under the investment department of the Singapore Government and 100% owned by the Ministry of Finance of Singapore, with a scale of about 300 billion USD.
Both of these funds invest in focusing on products with high safety.
GIC and Temasek are the two organizations on the list of shareholders of VNG Limited - the company on August 24 applied for listing on the US Nasdaq stock exchange (like VinFast).
In VNG Limited, GIC holds 11.1% economic interest, while Seletar Investments Pte Ltd (under Temasek Holdings investment fund) holds 6.9%. Besides, China's Tencent holds 47.4%. Ant Group holds 5.7%. VNG Limited holds 49% of VNG (the owner of Vietnam's Zalo social network with about 70 million members).
In early 2019, Temasek valued the parent company Zalo at 2.2 billion USD. This organization bought VNG's treasury shares through Seletar Investments for 1.86 million VND/share.
GIC has poured billions of dollars into Vietnamese blue chips in recent years, with a total value of about 2 billion dollars. GIC holds more than 217.4 million Vinhomes shares (4.99%), worth more than 12,000 billion VND (about 500 million USD, as of August 29 morning); 2.55% at Vietcombank (about 433 million USD); 5.87% at Masan (about 280 million USD)...
In 2018, GIC invested 853 million USD in Vinhomes and 500 million USD in VCM - then the parent company of Vinmart and Vinmart+.
With Temasek, this fund has many large investment deals in Vietnam. Notably, in the middle of 2020, Temasek and a group of investors led by KKR invested $650 million to purchase shares of Vinhomes.
Temasek invested in Scommerce, the parent firm of Fast Delivery Service JSC (GHN) and Instant Service JSC (AhaMove), towards the end of October 2019. The deal's value was not officially announced but is rumored to be around 100 million USD. These two delivery companies are growing very strongly and are said to have skyrocketed in value.
Besides, Temasek also invested in Minh Phu Seafood, FPT, OnPoint, and Golden Gate...
More than 70 billion USD from Singapore invested in Vietnam
According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, in the first eight months of 2023, Singapore became the largest investor in Vietnam, with a total newly registered capital of more than 3.8 billion USD, accounting for 21.2% of the total investment capital in Vietnam.
Singapore is currently leading ASEAN and second among countries and territories investing in Vietnam, with more than 3,000 valid projects and a total registered capital of more than 70 billion USD. Vietnam - Singapore Industrial Parks (VSIP) symbolizes economic cooperation between the two countries with thousands of hectares of land, attracting 18 billion USD in investment capital and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Singaporean investors have participated in most of Vietnam's economic sectors and fields, focusing on processing and manufacturing industries, real estate business, and producing and distributing electricity, gas and air conditioning.
Also read: Vietnam - an important market for Singapore tourism
Singapore's recent super project in Vietnam is the liquefied natural gas (LNG) Bac Lieu power plant (registered capital of 4 billion USD); Nam Hoi An resort in Quang Nam (4 billion USD) and Long An I and II LNG Power Plant project (3.12 billion USD)...
Investors also witnessed the "big boys" Shopee and Grab dominate the e-commerce and delivery industry in Vietnam, with revenue of several billion USD annually.
The largest cooking oil manufacturer, Wilmar International of Singapore, operates dozens of Vietnam factories and owns numerous well-known brands, including Neptune, Simply, MEIZAN, Cai Lan, Kiddy,...
Large private corporations poured money into Vietnamese stocks
F&N Dairy Investments Pte Ltd - the business of billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi - owns nearly 17.7% of capital in Vietnam Dairy Products Company Vinamilk (VNM), worth nearly $1.2 billion as of the morning of August 29. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's younger brother was the chairman of Singapore's largest beverage group from 2007-2013.
Another name is Platinum Victory PTE Ltd, a division of Singapore's largest vehicle distributor in Southeast Asia, Jardine Cycle & Carriage (JC&C), which also holds 10.62% of Vinamilk's shares, or over 715 million USD.
JC&C also owns more than 26.6% of shares in Thaco and has invested heavily in the Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Joint Stock Company (REE).
Singapore Thomson Medical Group (TMG) recently agreed to buy FV Hospital for $381.4 million (more than VND9,000 billion).
In early 2023, Daytona Investments Pte. Ltd (Singapore) spent VND 1,400 billion to buy 9% shares of the International Dairy Joint Stock Company (UpCOM: IDP). Previously, according to Bloomberg, Growtheum agreed to buy 15% of IDP's shares for about 100 million USD.
At the end of 2022, TEPCO Renewable Power Singapore gathered 25% of its shares to become a major Vietnam Power Development Joint Stock Company (VPD) shareholder.
In early 2019, Wan Hai Lines - one of the world's largest shipping companies - through Wan Hai Lines (Singapore) Pte. Ltd spent nearly 400 billion VND to own 20% of Da Nang Port shares.
Investing money in Vietnamese real estate
Some Singaporean real estate corporations, such as Keppel Land, CapitaLand, and Frasers Property, are pouring money into Vietnam's real estate sector. In particular, Keppel Land invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the Saigon Center tower project and the Empire City Thu Thiem project (Thu Duc City).
CapitaLand is one of the major real estate investors in Vietnam with two complex projects, over 13,000 apartments in 17 housing projects and a retail area in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi such as Zenity project, Feliz en Vista, Vista Verde, Define.
Recently, Temasek has paid much attention to real estate through Mapletree, with many large buildings such as Mplaza Saigon (acquired from Kumho Asiana), SC Vivo City commercial center, Mapletree Business Center, and Pacific Place Hanoi. Additionally, projects for logistics centers are funded by this fund.
At the end of March, according to Reuters, Singapore's CapitaLand Group was negotiating to buy back many Vinhomes projects, with a total value of up to 1.5 billion USD.
Nikkei Asia said that Singaporean investors have recently tended to move some investment sectors out of China to avoid adverse effects from the US-China trade war and cope with changes in the global supply chain.
The destination of Singaporean investors is emerging markets, including Mexico, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Read more: A Closer Look At Why Singapore Is Vietnam’s Largest Foreign Investor
