Central said the acquisition represented the strength of its will to keep expanding its business in Asia.

“Central Group and Nguyen Kim Group have officially acquired Big C Vietnam, which has been operated for more than 18 years,” said Tos Chirathivat, chief executive officer of Central Group.

He said Big C Vietnam had 43 stores nationwide, comprising 33 hypermarkets and 10 convenience stores, and 30 shopping malls. “Total revenue in 2015 was approximately 586 million euros.”

Central Group Vietnam was founded in 2011 with its business partner Nguyen Kim. This business collaboration was very successful. They continued to expand their business, and finally acquired Big C Vietnam.

Central Group Vietnam currently operates two Robins department stores in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, as well as two Marks & Spencer stores, 27 Supersports stores, 21 Nguyen Kim stores selling electronic goods, and 13 branches of Lan Chi Mart retail and wholesale food stores in Vietnam.

Nguyen Kim was founded in 2001, and became one of the leading electronics retailers in Vietnam. Central Group acquired 49 per cent of Nguyen Kim last year.

Casino yesterday on its official website announced the closing of the sale of Big C Vietnam to Central Group, for an enterprise value of 1 billion euros, implying 2015 multiples of 1.8 times net sales, 20.4 times EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) and 34.4 times EBIT.

The proceeds to be received by the Casino Group will amount to 920 million euros.

Casino Group recently reached a deal worth 3.1 billion euros to sell its Big C operations in Thailand to Berli Jucker, a listed manufacturing and trading company owned by tycoon Charoen Sirivadhana-|bhakdi.

Big C operates a large network of more than 700 stores in Thailand, including 126 hypermarkets, with a sales revenue of Bt119.6 billion in 2015.

Casino Group has made significant investments for more than 18 years to develop its subsidiary Big C in Vietnam.

Big C Vietnam has built strong relationships with its Vietnamese suppliers and farmers, its customers, its employees and the local authorities and communities, which allowed the development of modern retail in the country.

Central Group in partnership with Nguyen Kim says it will continue the strategy of Big C Vietnam, notably regarding sourcing of goods produced in Vietnam for Big C stores.

Casino says it will continue its sourcing activity of Vietnamese food products distributed in France, Brazil and Colombia. After the disposal of its subsidiaries Big C Thailand and Big C Vietnam, the deleveraging plan of the Casino Group reaches 4.2 billion euros.

According to the Thailand-Vietnam Business Council, imports of Thai products by Vietnam expanded almost two-fold to US$8.2 billion (Bt286 billion) in 2015 compared with 2009.

The average growth rate of retail sales in Vietnam has been in double digits over the last five years.

Modern trade accounts for only 18 per cent of the country’s total retail sales, suggesting huge growth potential.

As of December, there were 415 Thai investment projects in Vietnam with registered capital of $7.36 billion.

Santi Viriyarangsarit, president of Money Expo, said yesterday that this year’s event would be held under the theme “Digital Life, Digital Money”, in response to the lifestyle of Thai society that is moving towards the digital era.

Next month will see the transition of magnetic-stripe debit cards to chip cards compatible with the national e-payment system, so the Money Expo will feature booths aimed at familiarising consumers with the digital economy, he said.

Financial institutions are ready to support economic activities through attractive campaigns in order to help consumers access financial services, and mortgages will still be the highlighted products at the expo.

Bt90-bn deals expected

The organiser hopes that transactions at the expo will be at least as high as the Bt90 billion recorded at last year’s event.

Krungsri Group (Bank of Ayudhya and its subsidiaries) will bring virtual teller machines (VTMs) to its digital-banking zone at the expo so people can see how they work. For mortgages, the key product at the event, the bank will offer an interest rate of 0.25 per cent per annum for the first six months.

Krungthai Bank will highlight VTMs as well, on which customers can open deposit accounts at the expo; the machines can also issue debit cards.

KTB will offer 0.99-per-cent interest per annum for the first nine months to mortgage borrowers at the fair and highlight the unsecured-loan product it calls Super Easy, offering an annual interest rate of 15 per cent to salary earners.

Kasikornbank will demonstrate new features of its K-Mobile Banking Plus on Facebook Live. It will also offer free Wi-Fi at the booth to encourage customers to download KBank’s applications to watch promotions of its products.

Siam Commercial Bank will demonstrate smart-check-in technology at its booth on the first day of Money Expo. Moreover, the bank will set up an “innovative space” to cater to digital customers who want to do transactions via online banking.

Government Savings Bank will offer the most attractive campaigns at the event, such as zero interest for the first six months for its housing loans and a savings deposit product paying a per-annum interest rate of 4.25 per cent for 103 days.

“From our observation, more than 80 per cent of brands in the market are still using digital media as marketing and communication tools. But we believe that those brands should act as publishers that really understand what customers want to hear from them. This [could] create long-term relationships between the two parties,” said Jakrapong Kongmalai, managing director of Moonshot Digital.

The company is a 50:50 joint venture between Rabbit’s Tale and Jakrapong, who was formerly a vice president of Sanook Online, the operator of Sanook.com, and head of its content business.

“In the digital era, brands should learn how to communicate virtually what target consumers are keen on, and not only the messages that the brand wants to send,” Jakrapong said.

He added that there was room to grow in this segment and to introduce an online PR service, ranging from community relations, content creation, and social-reputation and crisis management to strategic brand communication.

The company believes that digital PR plays a vital role in the digital media industry’s growth.

According to the Digital Advertising Association (Thailand), digital-advertising expenditure this year is expected to soar to Bt9.927 billion, an increase of 23 per cent from 2015. This figure excludes advertising spending via Facebook and Google.

Saroj Laohasiri, head of strategy at Moonshot Digital, said he wanted to have at least 10 clients this year but declined to disclose the revenue target.

Rungroj Tancharoen, managing director of Rabbit’s Tale, said his company would work together with Moonshot to integrate its core strength in digital communications and content creation. To date, three clients of Rabbit’s Tale have already used Moonshot Digital’s services. “We are eyeing the high spenders in digital media, which are in the telecommunication, financial and banking, retails and real-estate sectors,” Rungroj said.

Sumet Sutthapaki, executive chairman of Inter Far East Wind International, or IWIND, said yesterday that the initial agreement signed with the Chinese company would result in mutual benefits.

Goldwind seeks to grow demand for wind turbines in Asia, while the Thai company would see smooth capacity expansion across Asia. IWIND’s benefits include a chance to co-invest in the Chinese company’s projects, which target combined installation of 8 gigawatts.

IWIND has already bought wind turbines with a capacity of 8.96 megawatts from Goldwind for its project in Nakhon Si Thammarat, which is expected to commence commercial operations next quarter.

Sumet also unveiled the plan to take over HBRE, a wind power company based in Daklak in central Vietnam.

HBRE has secured a power purchase agreement for 22MW and expects a further agreement for 62MW. The commercial operations of the project are slated for the fourth quarter.

“This is part of a 210MW project,” he said. “Wind power offers a great opportunity in Vietnam due to domestic demand and demand from neighbouring countries,” he said.

Late last year, IWIND acquired 30 per cent of a 30MW wind power project on Jeju Island in South Korea, which is being developed by Hanshin Energy.

To cope with greater demand for clean energy on the island, the company plans to raise its interest to 50 per cent.

Mergers and acquisitions of projects overseas would be quickened to raise the company’s capacity to 1GW in 2019, he added.