VSIP Hai Duong buy-out marks northern growth

Hai Duong People’s Committee recently allowed the Phuc Hung Company Limited to transfer Cam Dien-Luong Dien Industrial Park to Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park Bac Ninh, a subsidiary of Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP).

Details of the acquisition have yet to be revealed.

Phuc Hung Company received an investment certificate for Cam Dien-Luong Dien Industrial Park in 2008, with a total investment commitment of around VND700 billion or $33 million at current exchange rates. The site is situated in Cam Dien and Luong Dien communes, Cam Giang district, along National Road 5 linking Hanoi and Haiphong.

Also in 2008, the provincial committee reclaimed nearly 200 hectares of agricultural land from over 1,300 households for the industrial park. However, the park has remained empty for six years. The severely long period of inactivity has triggered protests among local residents who originally had to give up their farm land to make way for the park

VSIP’s acquisition of Cam Dien-Luong Dien Industrial Park is expected to breathe new life into the project, as VSIP has an outstanding reputation in terms of industrial park development in Vietnam, successfully constructing five industrial park and township complexes nationwide.

VSIP – the joint venture between Singapore’s Sembcorp Development and Vietnam’s Becamex IDC – has attracted investment from 535 companies into its industrial park and township complexes since 1996, with total investment capital of $7.4 billion.

The acquisition also marks a new expansion of VSIP in the north of Vietnam, following the strong inflow of foreign manufacturing investment into the country. VSIP is currently developing two projects in the north, including VSIP Bac Ninh and VSIP Haiphong.

In addition to the new project in Hai Duong, VSIP plans to develop a second industrial park and township in the northern central province of Nghe An. It is also considering a project in Tuy Phuoc district and Quy Nhon city, in the central province of Binh Dinh.