Billion dollar investor

/ September 6, 2020

World major tech firms consider billion-dollar investment projects in Vietnam

The Hanoitimes - In addition to current incentives, Vietnam also offers tailor-made ones for hi-tech projects that help local firms further integrate into global value chains, said a senior government official. A government’s task force on promoting foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam has been in contact with a number of global tech firms that are considering investing in large scale projects of up to US$1 billion each in Vietnam, according to Do Nhat Hoang, director of the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency. Overview of the online conference. Photo: VGP. Details of those in discussion, however, remained classified, Mr. Hoang, who is also a member of the task force, said at an online discussion on attracting FDI to Vietnam on September 4. According to Mr. Hoang, Vietnam remains a favorite investment destination for foreign businesses. While global FDI is projected to decline by 40% year-on-year in 2020, FDI commitments to Vietnam in the first eight months went down by 13% year-on-year to US$19.54 billion, and the disbursed amount was down 5.1% to US$11.3 billion. Such a decline remains acceptable given the dim outlook in regional countries and around the world, Mr. Hoang commented. Notably, year to August 20, registered FDI capital for fresh projects in Vietnam increased by 6.6% year-on-year to US$9.73 billion while existing projects have been injected an additional US$4.87 billion, up 22.2%. Mr. Hoang said through various contact channels, the task force saw growing interests in Vietnam from foreign investors. In its semi-annual industrial production report released in July, the Ministry of Industry and Trade also tipped big tech firms such as LG, Panasonic and Foxconn are looking to shift or expand production in Vietnam in the post-Covid-19 period. In early 2020, Apple recruited a series of senior positions in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, fueling rumors that the US-based tech giant is moving …

/ February 10, 2021

A Tesla for a bitcoin: Musk drives up cryptocurrency price with $1.5 billion purchase

Bitcoin took another large stride toward mainstream acceptance on Monday after billionaire Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company Tesla Inc revealed it had bought $1.5 billion of the cryptocurrency and would soon accept it as a form of payment for cars, sending the cryptocurrency shooting higher. The announcements, buried deep in Tesla’s 2020 annual report, drove a roughly 20% surge in the world’s most widely held cryptocurrency to over $47,000. At current prices, 0.8 bitcoins would be enough to buy an entry-level Tesla Model 3. Investors anticipated other companies will soon join a list of firms that invest in or hold bitcoin including BlackRock Inc, the world’s largest asset manager, and payments companies Square and PayPal. Musk has upended Wall Street over the last year and briefly became the world’s richest person as shares of Tesla surged nearly 500% to become the fifth most-valuable U.S. company, leaving other companies and investors eager to follow in his wake. “If any lesser mortals had made the decision to put part of their balance sheet in Bitcoin, I don’t think it would have been taken seriously,” said Thomas Hayes, managing member at Great Hill Capital LLC in New York. “But when the richest man in the world does it, everyone has to take a second look.” The news sparked heavy trading in cryptocurrencies and caused exchanges like Coinbase, Gemini, Binance to experience technical issues, according to Coindesk. It also generated discussion on Reddit. While discussions of cryptocurrencies are banned on the WallStreetBets community that fueled the GameStop Corp trading frenzy, users in other subreddits posted “to the moon,” expecting more companies to follow suit after Tesla. A well-known supporter of cryptocurrencies, Musk has weighed in regularly on the past month’s frenzy in retail investment, also driving up prices of the meme-based digital currency dogecoin and shares of U.S. video game chain GameStop. Experts said they would not be …

/ June 16, 2020

Foreign investors return to Vietnam stocks with Covid-19 under control: Bloomberg

The Hanoitimes - Foreign investors have been net buyers so far this month -- a first since January -- amid a stable currency. Global fund managers are starting to return to Vietnam’s stocks as the the country emerges relatively little scathed from the Covid-19 pandemic, Bloomberg reported. Firms including Ashmore Group Plc and Coeli Asset Management SA have increased holdings in the US$174 billion market since March, while foreign investors have been net buyers so far this month -- a first since January -- amid a stable currency. This has aided domestic investor inflows in driving the benchmark VN-Index up 28% this quarter, making it the second-best performer globally, even after a 6% decline in the last four sessions. Vietnam eased lockdown restrictions as early as April after moving quickly to roll out contact tracing and quarantining more than 100,000 people to curb the outbreak. With its 334 confirmed virus cases less than 1% of totals reported in neighboring countries Singapore and Indonesia, hopes are emerging that it will be among the stronger growth hotspots as world economies reopen, stated Bloomberg. The government is moving to restructure bank loans, freeze debt, reduce or exempt loan interest payments, and offer assistance including VND62 trillion (US$2.7 billion) in aid for workers. It is also looking to quickly disburse government investments and put in place administrative reforms to help speed recovery. “The strong decisive action on Covid-19 and now an acceleration of investment by the government bode well for the Vietnamese economy,” Andrew Brudenell, a fund manager at Ashmore, told Bloomberg. Brudenell said he has raised his Vietnam allocation by 50% since the end of 2019, now giving it the largest weight in the US$77 billion manager’s frontier markets equity fund. Foreign flows A supportive local currency and reigniting of tensions between the world’s two biggest economies are boosting interest in Vietnam as …