Thai retail giant Central Group eyes $1.5B Vietnam investment

Thai conglomerate Central Group is considering an additional investment of $1.5 billion in Vietnam, on top of its existing $1.5 billion investment, to fuel its expansion in the Southeast Asian nation, its chairwoman said Thursday. "This is a particularly important market for us," Wallaya Chirathivat, chairwoman of Central Group, said during a press briefing on Thursday. Central Group entered Vietnam through Central Retail in 2012, and owns a range of retail brands, including GO!, Tops Market, Lan Chi Mart, and Supersports. It currently has 330 stores and shopping malls in 26 provinces and cities. It has invested $1.5 billion in Vietnam so far. Its plans to double that investment is driven by three main factors, the first being the country's rapid economic growth with GDP growing at 8-10% annually, outperforming the regional average, according to Chirathivat. A GO! shopping mall in HCMC. Photo by VnExpress/Thanh Tan Vietnam's population has surpassed 100 million, much larger than Thailand's, with consumers willing to shop through modern retail channels, she added. The economy also has a broad geographic structure stretching all the way from north to south, offering room for development across provinces and cities, she said. "We have cooperation agreements with Sun Group and other local businesses to research and develop projects," she said, referring to one of Vietnam's leading resort developers known for building landmarks and theme parks. Olivier Langlet, CEO of Central Retail Vietnam, said the investment plan would focus primarily on retail and shopping malls along with hotels. The company has identified 200 locations in urban areas for further study, he said. "Our team is very busy looking for suitable locations and land plots to develop projects. This is a very large workload." In the hotel business, in addition to the 984-room Centara Mirage Resort Mui Ne in Lam Dong, which has been operating since 2020, the company is developing two more properties in China-bordering Quang Ninh city, which will add about 1,000 rooms. Langlet said one challenge facing the proposal is that land in Vietnam has become "very expensive," requiring the company to carefully calculate its investments to ensure returns meet shareholders' expectations. Besides, while Vietnam has greatly simplified administrative procedures, it needs further improvements since some regulations remain ambiguous, making it difficult for investors to navigate through them. Central Retail's revenues in Vietnam in the first half of the year were more than 24 billion Thai baht (US$722 million), according to its financial report. This accounted for 20% of the company's overall revenues, making Vietnam its second largest market after Thailand. The Chirathivat family ranked fourth in Thailand's 50 Richest list compiled by Forbes this year. It has been in the list for nine years in a row.