Hong Kong (China) surpassed large investors, such as Japan, Singapore and Taiwan (
China) to become the second largest investor in Vietnam last year, according to the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA).
Hong Kong made sizeable investments in the property and textile-dyeing sectors, the FIA added.
The Ministry of Planning and Investment's FIA said that from the first day of 2014 until December 15, 2014, Hong Kong companies had invested a total of US$3 billion in 99 new projects and 23 existing projects in Vietnam.
Of these, many Hong Kong investors have continuously expanded their operations and developed new textile projects.
Huafu plans to invest US$136 million in a project in the Long An province's Thuan Dao Industrial Park to dye 20,000 tonnes of cotton and produce 30,000 tonnes of yarn annually.
The Nam Phuong Textile Company has started construction of a US$120 million textile project at Viet Huong 2's Industrial Park in Binh Duong province.
Hong Kong investors are currently operating 869 valid projects in Vietnam, with a total registered capital of US$15.46 billion, ranking sixth among 101 countries and territories with investments in the country.
A project started by a Hong Kong investor in Vietnam costs US$17.8 million on average, while the average investment for each foreign project in Vietnam is US$14.3 million.
Hong Kong has so far invested in 17 out of 21 sectors in Vietnam.
Of these, the processing and manufacturing sectors have attracted the largest investments from Hong Kong investors, with 409 projects involving a total capital of US$7.06 billion (45.7 percent of the total Hong Kong invested capital in Vietnam).
Meanwhile, the property sector has 45 Hong Kong-invested projects worth US$2.5 billion (16.1 percent).
Experts said Vietnam is placed at an attractive juncture in the local real-estate market, after having recovered from a reduction trend seen for several years, while other Asian property markets have stood at the top of the business circle and might experience a reduction trend in the near future.
Therefore, Hong Kong investors are keen to invest more in Vietnam at the present and going forward.
The FIA said the largest Hong Kong-invested projects include the Jaks Hai Duong Electricity Ltd Company building the Hai Duong Theme-electric plant with a registered capital of US$2.25 billion invested by the Jaks Pacific Power Limited Company, the Dewan International's US$1.25 billion project to develop a major beach resort in Khanh Hoa province's Nha Trang City and Intel Products Vietnam Ltd Company producing Intel products with a total investment of US$1.04 billion.
