Vietnam's M&A value to halve in 2020 due to pandemic

HANOI, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's merger and acquisition (M&A) market is considered the least affected among Southeast Asian countries since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but its deals' value is expected to fall substantially to 3.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2020.

This number is just 48.6 percent of 2019's value (7.2 billion U.S. dollars), Vietnam News Agency cited the organizers of the Vietnam M&A Forum 2020 as reporting on Friday.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the new normal have affected investors and businesses, driving them to adjust their strategies, increase restructuring activities but due diligence and decision making are also more difficult, according to Dang Xuan Minh, general director of consulting company AVM Vietnam and one of the annual forum's organizers.

Current lockdowns in many countries are slowing down M&A activities, but in the long term, the pandemic may drive the market to explode with rising demand from both sellers and buyers, he said.

M&A activities in Vietnam are vigorous in the fields of real estate, finance-banking, industry, retail, logistics, agriculture and medical services, data by AVM Vietnam showed. Foreign investors have also dominated the market with companies coming from Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Singapore, according to the report.

Vietnam M&A Forum 2020 is scheduled to take place on Nov. 24 in southern Ho Chi Minh City and attract some 500 representatives from domestic and international businesses and investment funds, said the organizers.