[Intl-tobacco] BAT to set up joint venture in Vietnam (fwd)

[Robert Weissman]

August 24, 2001
British American Tobacco Gets Vietnamese JV License
Dow Jones Newswires
The Wall Street Journal

LONDON -- British American Tobacco PLC (BTI) Friday said it has been granted
a license by the Vietnamese government to establish a joint venture with
state-owned Vietnam National Tobacco Corp.
BAT said under the terms of the agreement it will invest $40 million to
develop Vietnam's tobacco-growing industry to international standards, both
in terms of yield and quality, and will construct a tobacco-processing
factory in Dong Nai, south of Ho Chi Minh City.
The facility, which won't manufacture cigarettes, will take about two years
to build, BAT said.
The company said the venture, the first involving the state-owned company,
would cut the Vietnamese tobacco industry's reliance on imported tobacco
leaf and cut rag tobacco.
BAT said around 58 billion cigarettes were sold each year in Vietnam, and
the Vietnam National Tobacco Corp. held a 57% market share by volume, making
it the country's largest tobacco firm.
-By Ben Winkley, Dow Jones Newswires; (+44) 207-842-9293;
ben.winkley@dowjones.com

UK: BAT set up joint venture in Vietnam.

08/24/2001
Reuters English News Service
(C) Reuters Limited 2001.
LONDON, Aug 24 (Reuters) - British American Tobacco Plc said on Friday it
had won permission to set up a $40 million joint venture with Vinataba, the
first such deal between the state-owned Vietnamese tobacco firm and a
foreign partner.
BAT, the world's second largest tobacco group, said it had been granted a
licence for the deal by the Vietnamese government, and added in a statement
that the joint venture was aimed at "developing Vietnam's tobacco growing
industry to international standards".
The Vietnamese venture, which will see the new company build a tobacco
processing plant in a province south of Ho Chi Minh City, is the latest move
by BAT into Asian emerging markets.
BAT, whose brands include Dunhill and Lucky Strike, said earlier this month
it would break into the South Korean tobacco manufacturing market with a
$1.1 billion investment, and the company already has a presence in Malaysia.
BAT shares were little changed in early trade, slipping 0.2 percent to 604
pence by 0710 GMT, close to a 2001 peak of 606-1/2 pence. The stock has
performed broadly in line with the FTSE tobacco sector since the start of
the year.