Taekwang Co., a first-generation Korean company that successfully entered the Vietnamese market with contract manufacturing of NIKE shoes, is expanding its business models to include industrial complex construction, power plant and logistics in the Southeast Asian country.

The company said on Wednesday it is constructing an industrial cluster around a dyeing plant currently being built in the Moc Bai Border Gate Economic Zone in Tay Ninh Province in the vicinity of Ho Chi Minh City.

Park Yeon-cha, chairman of the Taekwang Group, said the company has a blue print to build a power plant and launch logistics business after constructing the industrial complex in Vietnam.

Taekwang’s industrial complex extends 1.32 million square meters in total including 1.08 million square meters set aside for industrial park and 240,000 square meters for commercial land.

The complex will also be equipped with an industrial water processing facility capable of treating 20,000 tons a day and a tap water system to supply 3,000 tons of water a day, and a high-speed Internet network. The company will begin public subscription for the complex from next month.

The Vietnamese government is said to be offering attractive tax breaks to complex tenants, increasing the possibility of the project’s success. While Vietnam levies a 20 percent tax on corporate income, companies in the complex will be exempt from corporate tax payment for four years. The tax rate will stay at 5 percent in the following nine years and then 10 percent for another two years. The individual income tax will also be reduced by 50 percent.

Park`s bold Vietnam project is stretched to power generation and logistics business beyond the group`s mainstay footwear business.

The company plans to build a 2,400-megawatt thermal power plant in the country’s in Nam Dinh Province. The project looks valid as the Vietnamese government is reportedly ready to give a license to Taekwang in the near future.

The company is also seeking to acquire Gemadept, the country’s largest logistics company. The acquisition could be a bridgehead for the Korean company to build a comprehensive logistics network that covers neighboring countries like Cambodia and Laos.

By Kang Young-woon

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]