Thai businesses expanding footholds in Vietnam   Thai moguls are scaling up presence in Vietnam through smart market approach tactics.    In their latest move, Central Group, a Thai leading conglomerate boasting of operations stretching from retail and food processing to property and hotel businesses, through its member company Power Buy, has just acquired a 49 per cent share in New Solution and Technology Development Company NKT, the owner of Vietnam’s leading retailer Nguyen Kim Trading JSC.   The transaction value was reportedly set at $200 million.   According to Central Group’s media representative in Vietnam, later this month the two sides will officially announce changes to top positions as well as business strategy concerning the next five years to their business partners in Vietnam. Last year, Central Group posted $8.26 billion in total sales revenue, achieving a 19 per cent annual jump. Within their framework of operations in Vietnam they opened two upscale shopping malls, Robins Department Stores, at central locations -Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.  Tos Chirathivat, managing director of Central Group and youngest son of its founder, billionaire Samrit Chirathivat, once stated that Central Group is one of the few multi-level retailers capable of overtaking businesses in a comprehensive manner by acquiring everything starting from their food supply sources to their sales outlet chains, before shaping a distinct consumer habit. Another major stakeholder and contributor to Thai expansion in Vietnam is Berli Jucker (BJC), a member company held by Thai beverage giant ThaiBev which is in turn owned by billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi. Just last year BJC mulled buying leading wholesaler Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam (MCCV). The deal, however, faced opposition from BJC’s minority shareholders, but the largest shareholder TCC Holding is interested in the deal and is currently undergoing further negotiations with MCCV to seek an agreement fitting the new conditions. In 2013, BJC obtained a 65 per cent stake in Hanoi-based retail firm Thai An JSC for  $32 million.  Thai An was reported to have trading relations with 200 distributors, 2,500 wholesalers and tens of thousands of retailers in Vietnam’s traditional wet markets.  Besides MCCV and Thai An JSC, billionaire Sirivadhanabhakdi is also the second largest shareholder at Vietnam’s leading dairy products company Vinamilk.  Meanwhile, the Charoen Pokphand Group (CP Group), owned by billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont, has grown into a leading player in Vietnamese agriculture and feedstuff production.  CP Vietnam achieved more than $1.8 billion in revenue in the fiscal year of 2013.   In the field of construction material production, in 2012,  Lawaplastic Industries (Saraburi), belonging to Thai industrial conglomerate SCG, bought a 20 per cent stake in Binh Minh Plastics JSC and a 23 per cent stake in Tien Phong Plastic, two leading players in Vietnam’s plastic industry, at a total value  of VND900 billion ($42 million). In the same year Saraburi also acquired an 85 per cent stake in Vietnam’s leading construction material manufacturer Prime Group at nearly VND5trillion ($238 million).  Strategic advisors assumed that Thai businesses have made the right choice when deciding to take control of distribution channels in Vietnam.  “Thai people are very smart when going this way  rather than using finance, as they could not compete with other investors such as those coming from the US or Singapore.  They have chosen to penetrate Vietnam through its distribution channels. According to the Thai business circle, with the foundation of the ASEAN Economic Community in the upcoming times the market would not belong to any one country,” said Robert Tran, CEO in US, Canada and Asia Pacific at Canada-based leading business development strategy advisor Robenny Corporation. By Hoa Thuy, VIR