Ross to Explore Opportunities in Vietnam
Friday June 24, 5:11 pm ET
By Paul Nowell, AP Business Writer
Financier Wilbur Ross to Explore Business Opportunities With Vietnamese Textile Maker
CHARLOTTE, N.C (AP) -- Financier Wilbur Ross, who unveiled plans last year to break into China's emerging consumer market, announced an agreement Friday with a Vietnamese textile maker to explore a "full range of mutual business interests" in that country.
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Ross' company, International Textile Group, has plans for several major initiatives in Vietnam, going through Vietnam National Textile Garment Corp., or Vinatex, he said.
"We anticipate our discussions with Vinatex to be quite broad in scope and range from commercial and technical agreements encompassing global sales and services to more specific issues such as managing selected manufacturing plants in Vietnam," Ross said in a statement. "We will also consider opportunities to invest in new and existing Vinatex facilities."
Headquartered in Hanoi, Vinatex has assets totaling $757 million. It's 57-member enterprises have annual exports of more than $1 billion.
Ross pieced together ITG in March 2004 by merging Burlington Industries and denim maker Cone Mills, two Greensboro-based companies he bought out of bankruptcy. He has made similar moves in the coal and steel industries, buying bankrupt American companies and reconfiguring them to compete in the global marketplace.
International Textile Group operates five business units: Cone Denim, Burlington WorldWide, Interior Fabrics, Carlisle Finishing and Nano-Tex. The company has annual revenues of $900 million. ITG employs about 5,000 people in North Carolina and 7,000 worldwide.
In December, Ross said he planned to use a new partnership with a Chinese textile manufacturer to market furniture and other goods to that country's growing middle class. It involves a partnership with China Ting Group, a Hong Kong-based manufacturer and retailer of textile products.
The companies plan to build a plant in Hangzhou, China, to dye and finish interior fabrics. The plant, plus a warehouse and a distribution center, is expected to be in operation by the end of 2005.
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