July 2018 – Duane Morris Vietnam

1. How do you judge the M&A trends in Vietnam at the current time?

The M&A market in Vietnam since the beginning of this year is very active. Foreign investors tend to invest in public listed companies or companies with good brand in the market. Sectors that attract the most interest of foreign investors are finance, real estate, retail, consumer goods, etc.
The reason is that the investors are very optimistic about the development of Vietnam’s market. In addition, the Government has also made several successful attempts to improve the investment environment, including the consideration for the amendment of the Law on Securities, which is believed to bring better financial sources to the country.

2. What should foreign investors benefit from the trends and what should they be aware of?

The Government’s privatization of many state-owned enterprises this year together with the fact that many enterprises with large capitalization and of great interest to foreign investors in these sectors are now preparing for the public listing give foreign investors more investment choices. However, they should conduct a full due diligence on the target to make sure that their investment is secured and in compliance with Vietnam laws.

3. What are still the shortcomings of the M&A deals in Vietnam?

Transparency is a barrier to foreign investors. The local target companies do not adopt international accounting standards or the equivalent, or are not willing to disclose sensitive information to their potential partners. In certain cases, for example, in real estate development projects, under table expenses are of great concern to foreign investors, especially those from the US, EU, UK, Japan and Korea.

4. Many people keep worry of the loss for not only local brands but also the local culture with more foreign domination after the M&A. What are your opinions about the matter?

It should not be of great concern. Foreign investors when buying in local companies/ brands usually bring technology, high-quality management standards and capital, which local companies lack. This helps the local companies/ brands better compete in the market, especially in case of Vietnam’s deep integration into the world and regional economy. Moreover, culture is something that foreign investors have to adapt to be able to survive in Vietnam. The case of Grab and Uber is an example.

5. What is the forecast of the trend in the future? And how they will drive the market?

Leading enterprises with good financial capacity and high growth in the sectors will attract both foreign and domestic investment. It is noted that in 2018, there will be a number of state-owned enterprises privatized under the Prime Minister’s decision. These enterprises include Habeco, Vinamilk, etc. which is believed to be successfully privatized following the recent success of Sabeco, another state-owned enterprise in the beverage sector under the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s management.
In terms of capital sources, we can expect a cash flow coming from major Asian economies such as Japan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and especially mainland China which increases their strong presence in the market.
We strongly believe that the equitisation of SOEs of a larger scale and with a strong determination from the top would play a key role in driving the market.

If you have any question on the above, please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Oliver Massmann under omassmann@duanemorris.com or any other lawyer in our office listing. Dr. Oliver Massmann is the General Director of Duane Morris Vietnam LLC.

In recent years, Vietnam has enjoyed one of the world’s most rapid economic growth rates with an average of more than 6% p.a. Such growth has transformed the country from one of the poorest in the world into a middle-income country. Vietnam has long recognised the important role of renewable energy (including solar power) in achieving energy security, sustainable development and stable growth rate.

The revised Power Development Plan for 2011-2020, vision to 2030 (revised PDP VII), adopted in 2016, is evidence of a growing appreciation of the role alternative sources of energy, targets a 7% share of electricity generated from renewable energy by 2020 and 10% plus by 2030. The revised PDP VII forecasts the electricity demand using an annual average growth rate at 10% from 2011 to 2030. The demand will increase from 86 TWh in 2010 to 265-278 TWh in 2020 and 572-632 TWh in 2030. The estimated installed capacity would be 60 GW in 2020 and 129.5 GW in 2030.

Vietnam has a wide range of primary energy sources such as crude oil, coal, natural gas and hydro power for economic development. However, Vietnam has experienced formidable risks for its economy to be based on fossil fuels. For example, in April 2015, thousands of residents blocked a national highway for more than 30 hours in a protest against pollution by the Vinh Tan 2 coal power plants. It seems most of the hydro resource potential for hydro power plants will be fully exploited soon. Those are just two examples of incidents that could significantly impact on the national power security power of Vietnam. Accordingly, Vietnam must reduce its reliance on less “environmentally friendly” primary fossil fuel, and promoting renewable energy promptly.

Since early 2017, there has been a surge of solar and wind projects approved by the Government after the promulgation of new feed-in-tariffs (“FITs”) for on-grid solar projects and other reforming policies to attract foreign and local investment on this green industry. We highlight below some developments for your reference:

Solar power projects – Amazing development!

Vietnam’s potential capacity for solar power is considered to be similar to Spain or China, but solar power projects capacity, prior to 2017, is extremely low (less than 10 MW). However, hundreds of solar power projects have been approved by the end of 2017. So far, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (“MOIT”) informed that the combined capacity of all approved solar power projects, which will operate prior to 30 June 2019, is over 3 GW.

First time, FIT for on-grid solar power projects

Decision No. 11/2017/QD-TTg dated 11 April 2017 of the Prime Minister on the mechanism for encouragement of the development of solar power projects in Vietnam (“Decision 11”) set for the first time the FIT of US cent 9.35 pWh for on-grid solar power projects.

Solar power purchase agreement (“PPA”) template has been firstly introduced together with Circular 16/2017/TT-BCT of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. It shows that the Government has given its full support for the development of solar power projects in Vietnam.

Direct PPA Pilot for Private Sectors

Generally, solar Direct PPA is an agreement made between the solar power generator and a corporate customer in which solar power is physically delivered and sold to the corporate customer for its operations. Since early 2017, MOIT has assigned ERAV to cooperate work with USAID and consultants to research international experience and feasible models for solar Direct PPA in Vietnam. ERAV expected that its consultants could prepare the final report on solar Direct PPA models within July 2018. MOIT planned the pilot could be implemented as early as the first quarter of 2019. The pilot could realise at least 300-500 MW private solar power plants under the Direct PPA model.

Wind

With more than 3,000km coastline and plenty of islands, Vietnam has a significant potential for wind energy with an average wind speed of more than 6m/s, surpassing that of all other Southeast Asian countries. From technical perspective, Vietnam’s potential for wind power development is estimated to be 27 GW.

However, Vietnam’s wind market is still in its infancy. Up to now, there have only been five wind farms in operation with total capacity of 197 MW, up 38 MW from 2016. Other 50 projects are under different phases of development. The Vietnamese government sets a target for wind development at 800MW by 2020, 2,000 MW by 2025 and 6,000 MW by 2030.

The current wind FIT is 1,614 dong/kwh (excluding VAT, equivalent to 7.8 UScents/kwh). The MOIT has proposed the Government to increase wind FIT for inland wind power plants to 8.77 UScent/ kWh for onshore projects and to 9.97 UScent/kWh for near shore wind projects. Vietnam also expects foreign investments on development of its poor grid infrastructure, creating reliable wind speed studies and wind speed towers to measure, and improving technology and skilled workforce.

Biomass

As the agriculture in Vietnam is widespread, the capacity for sustainable power production from biomass amounts to 150 million tons per annum, 700-780 MW for electricity generation alone can be reached.

The Government’s target is to increase the biomass power to 500 MW (0.6 pct. of electricity production) by 2020 and 2,000 MW (1.1 pct.) by 2030. Until now, there have been six sugar factories out of 40 selling electricity to the national grid with a total installed capacity of 76.5 MW. Thus, there is still much potential in the market and the investors should take advantage of locations close to agricultural vicinities and focus on high season (i.e., shortly after seasonal harvests) to have the most output.

For on-grid biomass power projects, EVN is to buy all of the plant’s biomass energy output at the current price of 1,220 VND/kWh (excluding VAT, about 5.8 UScent).

Market access in WTO, CPTPP and EVFTA

Currently, there is no foreign ownership restriction in energy sector in local laws or Vietnam’s international commitments. The foreign investor may choose among permitted investment forms: 100% foreign invested company, joint venture or public private partnership in the form of BOT contract. For your information, Vietnam ties in first place with Singapore in terms of market access liberalisation.

The recent conclusion of the EU- Vietnam FTA (EVFTA) negotiation and the signing of the CPTPP further opens the market to foreign investors. The investors now can bring their technology and know-how, especially those from countries with high level of development in renewable sectors such as Germany, to Vietnam with less market access barriers and being more secured. In particular, the CPTPP and the EVFTA make it possible that foreign investors could sue Vietnam’s Government for its investment related decisions according to the dispute settlement by arbitration rules. The final arbitral award is binding and enforceable without any question from the local courts regarding its validity. This is an advantage for investors considering the fact that the percentage of annulled foreign arbitral awards in Vietnam remains relatively high for different reasons.

Please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Oliver Massmann under omassmann@duanemorris.com or any lawyers listed in our office listing if you have any questions or want to know more details on the above. Dr. Oliver Massmann is the General Director of Duane Morris Vietnam LLC.

Month: July 2018

Vietnam Investment Review interviewing lawyer in Vietnam Dr. Oliver Massmann on trends in Mergers and Acquisitions in Vietnam

VIETNAM – RENEWABLE ENERGIES – Identifying the Amazing Development – what you must know: