hkskyline
January 15th, 2005, 08:53 PM
Hong Kong tops the list of foreign investors
12 January 2005
South China Morning Post
Hong Kong investors are among the main foreign influences on the rapid development of Ho Chi Minh City, statistics show.
The city's Department of Planning and Investment says Hong Kong tops the list of foreign direct investment sources, at US$62.6 million last year, slightly more than Singapore. South Korea, Japan and the US are next. Hong Kong's businesses have invested heavily in the area's garment industry and property market.
Vietnam's tallest building, the 33-storey Saigon Trade Centre, is a joint venture of a state corporation and Hong Kong's Luks Industrial. HSBC, whose 105-year-old Saigon branch was shut at the end of the Vietnam war in 1975, has returned to become the leader of the city's retail banking services.
Ho Chi Minh City-based legal analyst Fred Burke, a member of the Hong Kong Business Association in Vietnam, said there were a number of factors luring Hong Kong investors to the area - liberalised investment policies, the fast-growing economy, and cultural similarities between Vietnam and China.
"Since Vietnam is a step or two behind China in development, there's also a perception that there's more room to grow here," Mr Burke said.
The first surge of interest in Vietnam occurred in the early 1990s, he said. At that time, Vietnam was widely seen as the next potential Asian tiger economy, and Hong Kong companies were looking abroad to hedge their bets against the possible impact of the 1997 handover.
Neither Vietnam's boom nor Hong Kong's bust materialised, but Hong Kong's roots in the country grew. "A lot of those real-estate investors who suffered in the 1990s are doing very well now," Mr Burke said.
David Marsh
12 January 2005
South China Morning Post
Hong Kong investors are among the main foreign influences on the rapid development of Ho Chi Minh City, statistics show.
The city's Department of Planning and Investment says Hong Kong tops the list of foreign direct investment sources, at US$62.6 million last year, slightly more than Singapore. South Korea, Japan and the US are next. Hong Kong's businesses have invested heavily in the area's garment industry and property market.
Vietnam's tallest building, the 33-storey Saigon Trade Centre, is a joint venture of a state corporation and Hong Kong's Luks Industrial. HSBC, whose 105-year-old Saigon branch was shut at the end of the Vietnam war in 1975, has returned to become the leader of the city's retail banking services.
Ho Chi Minh City-based legal analyst Fred Burke, a member of the Hong Kong Business Association in Vietnam, said there were a number of factors luring Hong Kong investors to the area - liberalised investment policies, the fast-growing economy, and cultural similarities between Vietnam and China.
"Since Vietnam is a step or two behind China in development, there's also a perception that there's more room to grow here," Mr Burke said.
The first surge of interest in Vietnam occurred in the early 1990s, he said. At that time, Vietnam was widely seen as the next potential Asian tiger economy, and Hong Kong companies were looking abroad to hedge their bets against the possible impact of the 1997 handover.
Neither Vietnam's boom nor Hong Kong's bust materialised, but Hong Kong's roots in the country grew. "A lot of those real-estate investors who suffered in the 1990s are doing very well now," Mr Burke said.
David Marsh