Buy-outs see joint ventures going to foreign control; as the Ministry of Planning and Investment plans to smooth merger and acquisition procedures to lure more foreign investment, Don Lam, partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers Vietnam, shared his views on such activities in Vietnam. (News)

Vietnam Investment Review, January, 2003

Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) statistics from April last year showed the number of foreign direct investment (FDI) projects established via merger and acquisition (M&A) accounted for about 15.3 per cent of total FDI projects in Vietnam. Is that a low figure in your view?

The 15.3 per cent is lower than the actual percentage of FDI projects that had ownership transfer. The main reason is that many transactions involving a partial or full transfer of equity interest in 100-per-cent foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) were not disclosed to the MPI.

This occurs if transactions take place outside Vietnam and buyers obtain equity interest in the holding company in a foreign jurisdiction. In this case, no change is needed on the investment license and...