News in Brief in 2/12/2012

HCM City attracts US$1.18 billion in FDI projects
Ho Chi Minh City had attracted 312 foreign direct investment projects, bringing in US$1.18 billion in revenue from 36 countries and territories, with newly-registered capital at $490 million, according to the City Statistics Office.
Besides, 97 existing projects registered to increase their investment capital for an additional $690 million. The first ten month foreign direct investment capital last year was $2.2 billion. The commercial sector attracted the most number of FDI projects, with 101 projects, while the real estate sector had the most investment capital of $117.6 million. Foreign investors also focused on industrial, healthcare, construction, and science and technology projects.
The City Statistics Office said that 24 projects shut down operations while 54 projects with a total capital of $1.29 billion were dissolved or revoked licenses ahead of schedule and moved to another province. The numbers of valid projects until October 15 were 4,438, with a total investment capital of $31.3 billion.
Decree bars foreign-majority ownership of brokerages
Foreign investors which seek to hold more than 49% of shares in a securities company must acquire full 100% ownership of the company.
The requirement was said in a new decree which bans foreign investors from holding a majority interest in such firms.
Under Decree No 58/2012/ND-CP, issued in pursuant to the Law on Securities, foreign investors are therefore limited to a minority position or full ownership – or they must convert the company into a limited liability company with multiple members.
Promising Economic Prospects for Vietnam
Businesses’ confidence in Vietnam’s economic prospects is on the rise, according to a quarterly survey, released in Oct-Nov 2012, from the Vietnam WVB Financial Intelligence Services Co. Ltd. Some 69.09% of businesses polled expressed strong confidence in Vietnam’s positive situation, while 6.36% said they worried about it, the survey said. The survey was conducted among 110 Vietnamese businesses in 10 main sectors, more than half of them being small and medium enterprises.
Meanwhile, the Vietnam WVB survey findings revealed the Businesses Confidence Index in the third quarter of 2012 reaching 107 points, 13 less than the previous quarter, but 7 points higher than the same period in 2008, the first year of the survey.
$24m to be invested in JV weaving, knitting plant
A joint venture agreement signing ceremony to establish Thien Nam Sunrise Textiles JSC was inked on Monday by Chinese Sunrise Shengzhou textile company and Vietnamese Thien Nam Investment and Development JSC in HCM City.
The project will cost a total of US$24 million to build a factory in Bao Minh Industrial Park in northern Nam Dinh Province with a production capacity of 1 million metres of woven fabrics and 300 tonnes of knitting fabrics a month.
Thien Nam is a leading spinning enterprise in Viet Nam, owning four spinning factories with a total of nearly 150,000 spindles and yarn production capacity of 25,000 tonnes per year.
Over 70 per cent of products are exported to overseas markets such as Turkey, Brazil, Indonesia, South Korea, and China.
Metro Pacific Interested in Water Projects in Vietnam, Indonesia
Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPI), whose operations range from real estate to sanitation services, is interested in water, road and power projects in Vietnam, President Jose Lim said today in Manila.
The group is also interested in investing in water projects in Indonesia and Myanmar, said Victorico Vargas, president of Maynilad Water Services Inc., a Metro Pacific venture with DMCI Holdings. Metro Pacific said today that 9-month profit increased 45 percent, boosted by growth at its Manila water provider, Maynilad, which reported net income in the period rose 19 percent.