Mahaphant Group's representative office established in Ho Chi Minh City

This is an important move of the Mahaphant strategy in the global business expansion with the vision to be the international leader in innovative and best-in-class fiber cement solutions via offering the top-class product portfolio to Vietnam’s customers with high standard customer services.

Sarat Khiatbanlue, ASEAN II president of Mahaphant Group, said: “We see the huge opportunity in ASEAN region to be a driving force for eco-living and environmental friendly fiber cement industry. Hence the strengthening of the Mahaphant Group office presence in Vietnam is in sync with implementing a full marketing program to expand distribution network, build customer relationships and communicate brand awareness for SHERA in order to penetrate its target segments, including architects, designers, contractors and homeowners”.

He said the Vietnam property market has also shown positive signs of development since the beginning of this year, offering a room of growth for construction materials. In addition, there is still an undersupply of social housing for the low income earners in the rural development.

“We believe with our brand heritage on the investment in R&D, under a strict green policy business operation and the state-of–art technology, we aim to bring the world–class product to the Vietnam market with the best business support,” said Sarat Khiatbanlue.

Mahaphant is not a new comer in the market since its fiber cement brand SHERA has been preferably imported and distributed by many local distributors such as Thanh Phong, Fortune, or Mirolin Ha Noi for a long time.

This business expansion also meets the demand growth of the building material industry in Vietnam. In the first half of 2014, according to the General Statistic Office of Vietnam, there is a tremendous Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) being poured into real estate and construction here with $1.15 billion and $552 million relatively. The construction material market has gained momentum with 24,6 million tonnes of cement consumed locally, and this number is expected to gear up considerably in the upcoming years.

In addition, with the independent R&D department along with the leading innovation technology focus on the “Green Policy”, the presence of SHERA product has increased the standard of the building material industry in Vietnam by replacing the expected ban of baked materials and asbestos based production. The usage of asbestos in construction material has raised up the health concern for the country since Vietnam is among the world's 10 largest users of asbestos with a consumption of about 60,000 tonnes every year The direct and in-direct exposure to asbestos posed a high risk health risks to workers, people living near an area where asbestos is exploited, or those living roof made from asbestos can be affected.

“Mahaphant is confident that our own advanced technology of SHERA product along with the marketing experience will help us offer better housing and building solutions to the Vietnam market,” Sarat Khiatbanlue added.

In Asia, The Mahaphant Group is one of the biggest fiber cement boards, siding and roofing and concrete roof tiles manufacturers. Established in 1974 in Thailand, it also proliferates in prestigious overseas market through a network of business partners in more than 40 countries throughout Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Oceania and Europe.