Shining, Goodway, Awea Stop Investing in Vietnam

Taipei, June 17, 2008 (CENS)--To evade the reported financial meltdown in Vietnam, a few Taiwan-listed firms, including Shining Building Business Corp., Awea Mechantronic Corp. and Goodway Machine Corp., have announced to stop investments in that nation.

Shining has stopped a real-estate development project in Hanoi; while Awea and its affiliate--Goodway have suspended a project to set up a machine-tool plant in Vietnam.

Nevertheless, Shining will proceed with a joint real-estate development project in Ho Chih Minh City with Teco Group, with Shining saying that such project should stay the course due to the acquisition of cost-effective land.

Earlier, Shining planned to invest between NT$4 billion (US$132.01 million at US$1:NT$30.3) and NT$5 billion (US$165.01 million) to set up a 35-story A-grade office building on 64,800 square feet near the Vietnam National Convention Center in Hanoi, with the company having decided to break ground sometime in the fourth quarter of this year. Recently, Shining president C.Y. Lai decided to stop the construction project due to the chaotic financial situation.

Lai says that real estate prices in Vietnam, especially around Hanoi, have skyrocketed due to speculation by South Korean firms. For instance, a lot around Hanoi that Shining targeted has jumped to NT$500,000 (US$16,501) per square foot from NT$30,000 (US$990.09) a year and a half ago.

Awea and Goodway earlier resolved to invest US$2 million in total to procure a 360,000-square-foot land for setting up an assembly plant in Hanoi to churn out double-column, C-type machining centers and CNC (computerized numerically controlled) lathes. The investment project is aimed at tapping the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) market. The investment project was planned to proceed sometime in the second quarter of this year and the entire project was expected to be completed by mid-next year.

The skyrocketing land prices in Vietnam have forced Awea and Goodway to suspend the investment project until the financial situation improves. Yang says land prices around Hanoi have risen to US$100 per square meter from US$40 in the beginning of this year, and his company would consider lending a lot to facilitate construction of the assembly plant to minimize cost if prices do not decline.