[THE INVESTOR] Samhwa Paints Industrial, South Korea’s leading paint manufacturer, has set up its second Vietnam unit in a move to boost its presence in Southeast Asian market.

According to the company’s regulatory filing on Aug. 10, Samhwa Paints established a wholly-owned subsidiary Samhwa-Vh in Ho Chi Minh, following the first Vietnam operation which opened in 2010 in Hanoi

The newly launched unit will focus on manufacturing paint products for home appliance such as refrigerator.

Samhwa Paints’ Hanoi unit makes paints for plastic surfaces, especially mobile phones. The operation logged 41.2 billion won (US$37.60 million) in sales and 10.9 billion won in operating profit in 2015.

The company is turning its eyes to emerging markets in Southeast Asia to find new revenue streams due to the saturated domestic market.

“We decided to commit additional investment in Vietnam to expand our market position in the fast-growing Southeast Asian market,” an official at Samhwa Paints said.

The move is likely to intensify competition between Korean paint makers in Vietnam as its rival Kangnam Jevisco is also pushing to build a production line in Ho Chi Minh.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)