Chinese investors are strengthening their positions in Vietnamese enterprises across gas, electricity, and food retail sectors by enhancing share acquisitions, and are continuing to pump capital into development projects in Vietnam.  

Thus, Chinese investors are venturing into new industries instead of adhering to traditional sectors of footwear and apparel.

Zhou Hao, a member of the board of directors of PetroVietnam Gas City Investment and Development JSC, recently registered to buy 4.7 million shares in the company until June 20.

Zhou expects to spend approximately VND31.5 billion (US$1.2 million) on those shares.

Once the deal is complete, Zhou will hold a 24.9 percent stake in PetroVietnam Gas City.

PetroVietnam Gas City is under the umbrella of PetroVietnam Gas Joint Stock Corporation and boasts the leadership of several Chinese nationals.

According to the company’s financial report, it generated net revenues of over VND90 billion ($3.5 million) in the first quarter of this year, up 15 percent year on year.

After deducting costs and taxes, the firm suffered a net loss of nearly VND5 billion ($195,852), the heaviest over the past four years.

It had sustained a cumulative loss of VND46 billion ($1.8 million) as of the end of last quarter.

In the power sector, Huong Linh Fresh Energy Development JSC, another Chinese-invested company, is seeking a 61.3-percent stake worth VND255 billion ($10 million) in the Huong Linh 3 wind farm project in Quang Tri Province, north-central Vietnam.

Sungrow Renewables from China also announced that it would develop wind and solar power projects in Vietnam with a total estimated investment of over $1 billion.

Vietnam’s largest retail group, Mobile World, has also reported that it completed transferring five percent of the total shares in its grocery chain Bach Hoa Xanh to Beijing-headquartered CDH Investments.

Bach Hoa Xanh said pr from the deal, reported at VND1.8 trillion ($72.17 million), would be used for business development.

Thomas Lanyi, director for Southeast Asia at CDH Investments, said Vietnam is a priority market for CDH thanks to its economic prospects and macro-economy.

In addition to share acquisitions, many Chinese enterprises are spending big to develop factories and projects in order to access the Vietnamese market. 

One of these companies is Beijing-based BOE Technology Group Co. Ltd., which has received an investment certificate for a project to produce computer and TV screens and electronic display boards in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, a neighbor of Ho Chi Minh City.

It has already launched a similar project in Dong Nai Province, also bordering Ho Chi Minh City.

In the auto industry, Geleximco Group and Omoda & Jaecoo Automobile Co. Ltd. under China’s Chery Automobile inked a contract to build a factory in Thai Binh Province, northern Vietnam.

Chinese e-bike firm Yadea is constructing its second factory in Bac Giang Province, also in the north.

Over the past two years, Chinese auto firms such as Haval, Wuling Mini EV, and Haima have also made forays into the Vietnamese market.

Binh Duong Province in southern Vietnam is a magnet for Chinese investors with over 1,600 projects carrying a combined price tag of over $10 billion.

Meanwhile, Bac Ninh Province in the north issued investment certificates for 105 foreign direct investment projects in the first quarter of this year, with over half of these projects backed by Chinese firms.

According to a report by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Chinese investors had over 4,400 operational projects with total registered capital of more than $27.6 billion in Vietnam as of last quarter.

China ranked sixth out of the 145 countries and territories making investments in the Southeast Asian country.

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