Ascendas ready for new investment opportunities

Han Ann Foong, country head of Ascendas Vietnam, said the company had received increasing enquiries and visits, especially from Japanese companies, to its new industrial park in Binh Duong province.

“We are hopeful to have more closed deals,” said Foong. In May 2012, Ascendas completed the infrastructure for phases 1 and 2 of the 500-hectare Ascendas-Protrade Singapore Tech Park (APSTP), which focuses on developing industry clusters for the electronics, pharmaceutical and food and beverage production, and general industries. Foong said Ascendas could begin building infrastructure works for phases 3 and 4 of the park once there were signs of new demands.

Vietnam, he said, was well poised to benefit from the “China+1 or +2” strategy of multinational firms and he had observed a continuous trend of those companies relocating out of China to South East Asia to reduce costs, especially Japanese investors.

Foong said the negative impacts from the global economic woes in the past few years had delayed new investment and expansion plans of many companies contacted by Ascendas.

“However, they are also telling us that they continue to pursue a  ‘plus two’ policy. We firmly believe that  stands to be one of the main beneficiaries of this trend,” he added.

With optimistic forecasts of the economic recovery  in the US and China since 2012’s last quarter, Foong said Vietnamese manufacturing sector may benefit from the improved external demand.

“We continue to be optimistic of long-term fundamentals of the Vietnamese economy,” he said.

“This year we will continue to focus on promoting our industrial park, APSTP, as well as leverage on our global networks to attract more new investments. We will also keep a lookout for acquisition opportunities or new projects at good value,” said Foong.

Ascendas, which first entered Vietnam in 1996, has boasted it understands  how to develop a successful industrial park in the country by effectively addressing problems encountered in other industrial parks such as lack of essential amenities for workers and environment pollution treatment.

Ascendas has therefore invested substantially in waste water treatment systems, which will relieve most of its tenants from the need to build their own treatment plant.

“With worker dormitories and amenities offering training facility, food courts, and green areas, APSTP will be the new generation of industrial parks in  Vietnam,” Foong added.