Capital from many investors in the Americas and Europe are expected to be channeled into the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market in Vietnam next year, participants said at an M&A conference held in Ho Chi Minh City on Monday.

More than 40 M&A experts and business executives from foreign countries and regions gathered at a conference of the Global M&A Partners (GMAP) to explore investment trends in Vietnam.

Yam Yoshida, CEO at RECOF Vietnam, said that the GMAP, a partnership of independent M&A advisory firms, has 30 M&A companies from 50 countries and territories in the Americas, Asia, and Europe.

Aside from in-person participants, the conference gathered over 400 individuals joining remotely.

This is the second time that the GMAP conference has been held in Asia and the first time in Vietnam, which is considered one of the promising countries in the world with its young population, impressive economic growth, and constantly growing consumer market.

“Every single day, we’re still looking for potential sellers for international investors who are interested in the Vietnamese market but lack information about it,” Yoshida elaborated.

The Japanese expert added that international investor tastes have not changed much post-pandemic, with their capital mostly funnelled into such fields as fast-moving consumer goods, retail, food production and processing, logistics, and financial services.

However, the pandemic has turned cold-storage logistics into a hot industry, he added.

Ivan Alver, co-chairman at GMAP, said that the economic downturn and inflation in Europe forced investors to urgently look for fresh markets to safeguard their assets.

International investors are paying significant attention to countries with impressive economic growth like Vietnam.

“I learned that two Swiss investors are seeking to shift their manufacturing facilities in China to Vietnam. They conducted surveys and discovered that the infrastructure system and human resources in Vietnam fulfill their requirements,” Alver added.

Frederic De Boer, another GMAP co-chairman, said that there is an ongoing trend in which investors are looking for factories to conduct M&A deals in Vietnam.

Attendees in the conference also took part in discussions enabling them to learn more about the investment landscape, legal frameworks, and emerging sectors in Vietnam.

During the first half of 2023, M&A deals carried out in Vietnam reached a value of nearly US$2.7 billion, down 54 percent against the same period last year, according to data released by FiinGroup, Vietnam’s leading integrated service provider of financial data, business information, industry research, credit rating reports, and other data-driven analytics services.

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