Làn sóng cho việc hội nhập mậu dịch tự do Đông Nam Á đang diễn ra. Làn sóng này sẽ còn lớn hơn nữa kể từ 2015.

Thái Lan là một trong những quốc gia có sự nghiêm túc cao nhất để tận dụng xu hướng hội nhập này. Những Tài Phiệt người Thái bắt đầu xem thị trường Đông Nam Á là thị trường chung, chứ không riêng gì Thái như trước kia. Họ khuyến khích sinh viên học thêm 1 ngôn ngữ nào đó trong khu vực Asian.

"Theo Wall Street Journal, Thai Beverage, công ty của tỷ phú Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, vừa trình bày với Chính phủ Việt Nam đề xuất mua cổ phần trong Sabeco, hãng bia lớn nhất VN. 

Công ty Bia Rượu Nước giải khát Sài Gòn (Sabeco) được ThaiBev định giá 2 tỷ USD. Một quan chức Chính phủ CSVN cho biết, Sabeco sẽ thành lập một hội đồng để tái cấu trúc công ty và bán tối đa 53% cổ phần cho một hoặc một vài nhà đầu tư chiến lược.

Chính phủ hiện sở hữu 89% công ty này. Theo hãng nghiên cứu Euromonitor, Sabeco hiện kiểm soát 46% thị trường bia Việt Nam với nhiều thương hiệu như 333, Bia Sài Sòn.

Trước Sabeco, một công ty khác của tỷ phú này là hãng Fraser & Neave đã thất bại trong việc thâu tóm một hãng bia Myanmar. Vì vậy, có cổ phần trong Sabeco sẽ mở ra cơ hội khác giúp ông Charoen thâm nhập một thị trường mới. Những năm gần đây, tỷ phú rất hăng say thâu tóm trong lĩnh vực bất động sản và tiêu dùng." BS Hồ Hải

Bài liên quan:

Thailand ‘gears up’ as China ‘goes South’

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SINGAPORE— Thai Beverage PCL., owned by Thailand’s third-richest man, has approached the Vietnamese government to buy a stake in the country’s largest brewer, an indication that foreign interest remains strong in the frontier market despite a series of botched privatizations.

ThaiBev, which owns the Chang Beer and Oishi green tea brands in Thailand, is looking to buy a stake in state-owned Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage Corp., or Sabeco, which is valued at about $2 billion, people with knowledge of the deal said. ThaiBev is owned by Thai tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, who according to Forbes has a net worth of $11.3 billion at the end of June.

Separately, a Vietnamese government official who didn’t want to be identified said Sabeco, which is under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, will set up a panel to restructure the company and sell up to 53% of it to one or several strategic investors. The government currently owns 89% of the brewer, which sells brands including 333 and Saigon Beer and controls 46% of Vietnam’s beer market as of 2013, according to Euromonitor.

ThaiBev’s interest in Sabeco follows the failure to capture a Myanmar brewer by another of Mr. Charoen’s companies, Fraser & Neave Ltd. , which lost a legal battle early this month against a conglomerate controlled by Myanmar’s military seeking to wrest full control of the country’s biggest brewer. The acquisition of a stake in Sabeco would open up an alternative emerging market to Mr. Charoen, who has been on an aggressive shopping spree in the past few years in the property and consumer sectors. ThaiBev declined to comment

In 2011, Mr. Charoen acquired Fraser & Neave for $11 billion, while earlier this year Frasers Centerpoint Ltd.—a Singaporean property firm he controls—made a $2.4 billion offer to buy Australand, an Australian residential developer and office landlord. According to Euromonitor, beer sales in Vietnam grew 11% in 2013 and are expected to grow 9.6% next year. According to Sabeco, the brewer sold 649.8 million liters of beer in the first six months of this year, up 4% from a year earlier. Its revenue in the Jan-June period rose 6% on an annual basis to 14.3 trillion Vietnamese Dong ($680 million).

This isn’t the first time that Sabeco has been for sale. In the past, the Vietnamese government had planned to sell its stake in the brewer to strategic investors but got delayed due to various procedural issues such as the number of shares the government was willing to sell. But recently, the government has moved to quicken its reforms of state-owned enterprises, public investment and the banking system which are burdened with high levels of nonperforming loans.

Vietnam’s stock market is among Asia’s best performers this year so far, up more than 19.5% as investors buy into the small but fast-growing market. Government plans to privatize hundreds of state-owned enterprises in a bid to make them profitable have helped drive foreign investment. In recent weeks, however, the mood has become more gloomy as highly-anticipated offerings are made at valuations that local investors say are unreasonable. For instance, state-owned Vietnam Airlines which was aiming to raise $71 million in an initial public offering has been able to raise only $52 million with no participation from foreign investors. The government sold a 3.5% stake in the airline when 5% was planned initially. The airline chief executive in August said that the firm is speaking to potential strategic investors to sell a separate 20% stake in the company.

“Privatizing a state-owned company like Vietnam Airlines shows the government’s right direction in restructuring state-owned enterprises to enhance their transparency and efficiency,” Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Hong Truong said after the Friday IPO.

Write to P.R. Venkat at venkat.pr@wsj.com, 

Vu Trong Khanh at trong-khanh.vu@wsj.com and

Jake Maxwell Watts at jake.watts@wsj.com