Hanoi (VNA) – Multinational corporations areincreasingly locating some Southeast Asian regional headquartersfunctions outside Singapore to save money and pursue expandedopportunities, according to foreign media.
Sakata Inx, a Japanese maker of printingink, established a regional head office in Malaysia this February. Theregional headquarters will oversee business in South Asia and SoutheastAsia, including India, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia, with operations tobegin in late 2024 or early 2025.
Sakata Inx already had a market presence in Southeast Asiabut had not set up a regional headquarters there so far The new head office will make it easierto serve customers in Asian countries, a company representative was quoted byNikkei Asia as saying.
The new headquarters will add an extra 1 billionto 2 billion JPY (6.6-13.1 million USD) to operating profit under the company'smedium-term business plan through 2026. Tax advantages were the deciding factorin choosing Malaysia, a spokesperson said.
Thailand is one of the leading candidates for drawingregional headquarters. The country is often picked in conjunction with plans toexpand production and sales.
Nissin Foods Holdings moved its Southeast Asian headquartersfrom Singapore to Thailand in 2020. The Thai government is also working to luremultinationals via tax incentives.
Among the Japanese companies with regional headquarters inSingapore, 31% had partly relocated their functions to another country or wereconsidering doing so in a poll released this March by the Japan External TradeOrganisation. The share was up significantly from 7.4% in the fiscal 2019survey.
Instead of shifting all headquarters functions out ofSingapore, many Japanese companies have favoured relocating specific functions,such as sales or corporate planning.
Thailand was the most popular destination among respondentsthat had moved or were considering moving functions to another country, with 19companies. Malaysia came in second, with five.
However, experts held that Singapore still has the advantagein location, language proficiency, and financial services. It does not appearthat the city-state will be dethroned as the prime spot for regionalheadquarters.
Earlier, a string of companies led by financial groups havemoved from Hong Kong (China) to Singapore since 2019./.
Sakata Inx, a Japanese maker of printingink, established a regional head office in Malaysia this February. Theregional headquarters will oversee business in South Asia and SoutheastAsia, including India, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia, with operations tobegin in late 2024 or early 2025.
Sakata Inx already had a market presence in Southeast Asiabut had not set up a regional headquarters there so far The new head office will make it easierto serve customers in Asian countries, a company representative was quoted byNikkei Asia as saying.
The new headquarters will add an extra 1 billionto 2 billion JPY (6.6-13.1 million USD) to operating profit under the company'smedium-term business plan through 2026. Tax advantages were the deciding factorin choosing Malaysia, a spokesperson said.
Thailand is one of the leading candidates for drawingregional headquarters. The country is often picked in conjunction with plans toexpand production and sales.
Nissin Foods Holdings moved its Southeast Asian headquartersfrom Singapore to Thailand in 2020. The Thai government is also working to luremultinationals via tax incentives.
Among the Japanese companies with regional headquarters inSingapore, 31% had partly relocated their functions to another country or wereconsidering doing so in a poll released this March by the Japan External TradeOrganisation. The share was up significantly from 7.4% in the fiscal 2019survey.
Instead of shifting all headquarters functions out ofSingapore, many Japanese companies have favoured relocating specific functions,such as sales or corporate planning.
Thailand was the most popular destination among respondentsthat had moved or were considering moving functions to another country, with 19companies. Malaysia came in second, with five.
However, experts held that Singapore still has the advantagein location, language proficiency, and financial services. It does not appearthat the city-state will be dethroned as the prime spot for regionalheadquarters.
Earlier, a string of companies led by financial groups havemoved from Hong Kong (China) to Singapore since 2019./.
VNA
