Information technology (IT) companies have been doing well in the
economic downturn, and continue to be sought after by investors,
VietNamNet Bridge reported on September 24.
According to the
English language news portal, MAF-IMAA, a Swiss research group, believes
that many IT firms’ Merger and Acquisition deals (MA) will be made
in 2014, while the most-wanted businesses are in e-commerce, internet
services, online payments and mobility.
Vietnamese IT firms have
been eyed by many investors, especially from Japan, Russia and
Singapore. They buy shares from existing shareholders or buy the entire
businesses.
The moves show that foreign investors want to start doing business in the Vietnamese market as quickly as they can.
A
branding expert agreed that 2014 will witness a lot of MA deals.
He was quoted as saying that “the value of the deals may not be big, but
will be enough for domestic firms to mobilise capital and improve their
corporate skills.”
The CEO of AVM Vietnam, Dang Xuan Minh,
believes that Vietnam has become very attractive to foreign investors,
with big technology giants like Intel, Google, eBay and Hon Hai
interested in the country’s IT market.
He also said that
Vietnamese IT firms had been included in the investment portfolios of
nearly all foreign investment funds in Vietnam.
A representative
of IDG Venture said the Vietnamese IT market was scorching-hot and that
venture funds like IDG Venture are aggressively looking to invest in
internet service startups.
The Japanese CyberAgent Ventures
Vietnam has announced it will pour money into another four companies in
Vietnam in 2014 after it agreed to pump capital into DKT earlier this
year to develop the e-commerce solution Bizweb.vn.
Domestic
groups are also showing interest. FPT, the Vietnamese largest IT group,
has said it was considering buying some IT firms, including foreign
ones.
The MAF research team quoted Bui Quang Ngoc, CEO of FPT, as
saying that FPT would budget 50 million USD for the acquisition of IT
firms this year.
The same source said FPT was eyeing IT firms that provide services that have yet to be offered.
Ngoc
of FPT said though the failure probability rate in MA was
relatively high, FPT still hoped it could make one to three successful
deals this year.
An analyst said that investors had been
encouraged by a Government decision released earlier this year on the
establishment of a national committee on IT application.
The
committee is in charge of suggesting reasonable policies to help develop
the IT industry and utilize IT at state agencies, key fields and the
society.
Investors can see great opportunities from the Government’s strong determination to develop IT.-VNA