Vice Director of Korea’s M&A Center of Korea Trade – Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) Mchael D. Choi said, recently, many Korean enterprises are showing interest in M&A deals in Vietnam. As such, the two countries can cooperate efficiently through M&A deals. At present, Korean investors are negotiating with 12 Vietnamese enterprises in fields of food production, pharmacy, and finance. 

From expert’s perspective, in order for M&A activities to be more efficient, and contributes more to the economic growth, it is necessary to have appropriate mechanism and policies to support. For example, it may be the policies to facilitate the equitization process of SOEs, speeding up the divestment process for foreign investors, supporting domestic enterprises mobilizing financial resources in foreign stock markets. Besdies, the government need to pay attention and create more chances for foreign investors taking part in M&A deals in Vietnam. 

According to Michael D. Choi, Korea are giving priority to allocate financial resources for investment fund focusing on M&A deals. In Korea, there are 14 organizations and investment funds with capital of up to 1 billion USD. Therefore, in order to have more M&A deals between Korea and Vietnam, Vietnamese enterprises need to have more accurate information and issuing financial report in a timely manner. 

Statistics from the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) showed that, in 2017, SCIC will divest the government fund from 114 out of 132 SOEs. At present, this process is completed in 30 enterprises, with the remaining enterprises are expected to be complete by the end of this year. Despite the limited time left, but there are high chances that it will be success with many big SOEs such as Sa Giang, Tien Phong Plastic, Binh Minh Plastic, Bao Minh Insurance and FPT Group.