Việt Nam key to SE Asia expansion: Thai cement giant

SCG President and CEO Kan Trakulhoon.— File Photo

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Siam Cement Group (SCG) from Thailand considers Viet Nam a key market in its strategy to expand investment in the Southeast Asian region.

SCG President and CEO Kan Trakulhoon said that Việt Nam has always been an important market in the group's business strategy in the ASEAN region since the group entered the country in 1992.

"We will continue our investment in this potential market, focusing on cement, building materials, paper and chemicals," he stressed.

SCG currently has 19 affiliates in Việt Nam which have total assets worth US$615 million. The group posted VNĐ6.7 trillion ($320 million) in sales revenue in the Vietnamese market in 2012, an 11 per cent surge from a year earlier.

In the first half of this year, the figure saw a year-on-year rise of 43 per cent to hit VNĐ4.9 trillion ($230 million).

Last December, the Thai group paid $5.12 trillion ($240 million) for 85 per cent of Prime Group, a leading building material producer in Viet Nam, a strategic step to consolidate its competitiveness in ASEAN.

Kan Trakulhoon noted significant changes in Viet Nam's investment and business environment.

"Việt Nam is an emerging economy with a large and dynamic population and a good business environment. Remarkably, we have seen its efforts in building an ASEAN Economic Community. In this context, Viet Nam has many favourable factors for our upcoming plans," he added.

SCG is also seeking other opportunities here. Last year, the group and Thai Plastics and Chemicals Public Company Limited (TPC) entered into a joint venture with QPI Viet Nam (a subsidiary of Qatar Petroleum International), the Viet Nam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and Viet Nam National Chemicals Group (VinaChem) to invest in a petroleum project in the country.

SCG and TPC own 28 and 18 per cent of the project respectively. The remaining belongs to Vietnamese businesses. It is scheduled to become operational in the next few years.

Besides Viet Nam, the Thai group is also eyeing other markets in the Southeast Asian region. —VNS