Central Group to reinforce Vietnamese investments

August 20, 2017 | 16:08

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Thai conglomerate Central Group will invest an additional $500 million to expand its operations in Vietnam within the next five years, aiming to set firm roots in this potential market, according to newswire Bangkok Post.

Central Group's largest investment in Vietnam was the 2016 acquisition of the Big C hypermarket chain

Chief executive of Central Group Vietnam Philippe Broianigo said that the additional capital will be used to expand its existing businesses in Vietnam, including shopping malls, wholesaling, hotel management, stationery shops, and especially food and electronics.

Notably, 1-2 billion Thai baht or $30.01-60.18 million of the fund will be used to open 30 new branches of the Nguyen Kim electronics chain, in which the Thai group holds a 49 per cent stake at the moment.

In the next year, Central Group will pour $210.6 million into opening 20 Big C hypermarkets and its wholesale business LanChi Mart, in addition to 20 more Nguyen Kim outlets in Vietnam.

The remaining money will be disbursed during 2019-2021.

Under the aggressive investment plan, Central Group expects to acquire $1.05 billion in revenue in sales in Vietnam in 2017 and $11.5 billion within the next five years.

At the second Vietnamese Goods Week in Thailand inaugurated on August 18 in the presence of Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Central Group chief executive Tos Chirathivat noted that Vietnam and Europe are the group’s investment priorities. The group will continue to expand business in Vietnam because of the country's strong potential as an emerging market with high GDP growth.

Central Group has already expanded via six business categories in Vietnam, namely hypermarkets, electrical appliances, hotel management, fashion department stores, export business, and wholesale. The group operates 160 stores.

In addition, it plans to build its own hotel in Ho Chi Minh City in the future that will have 200-500 rooms.

In April 2016, Central Group won over tough competition to become the new owner of Big C Vietnam after paying $1.14 billion. After the purchase, Central Group took over the Big C network of 43 stores and 30 shopping centres.

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