Ho Chi Minh City to host Vietnam M&A Forum 2020

The event will be jointly held by the Vietnam Investment Review (VIR) Group and AVM Vietnam, with sponsorship coming from the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

According to the organisers, after witnessing over a decade of robust growth with thousands of transactions valued at approximately US$50 billion, the nation’s mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market has entered a new phase that features numerous opportunities, despite the COVID-19 outbreak causing a negative impact on the global economy.

Currently Vietnam is emerging as a safe and attractive investment destination after successfully overcoming severe challenges to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

The country is also enjoying a positive outlook from factors such as the shift of investment from major markets, the enforcement of new free trade agreements, and the amendment of new important laws relating to investment which has provided a more open and transparent climate for various M&A activities.

In addition, several large corporations have accelerated their M&A activities to restructure operations and improve the value chain, all of which serve as bright prospects ahead for further investment in Vietnam.

Phan Duc Hieu, deputy director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), noted that the Enterprise Law 2020 is anticipated to help increase opportunities and create favourable conditions for small and medium enterprises to participate in the M&A process.

Dang Xuan Minh, general director of AVM Company, stated that the total value of the country’s M&A market last year reached US$7.2 billion, equivalent to 94.7% in comparison with 2018.

Due to the impact of COVID-19 and other unfavourable factors, the value of this year’s M&A market is anticipated to decline to US$3.5 billion, equal to 48.6% compared to last year. Indeed, this sum will be viewed as a positive achievement during this challenging period, Minh added.