Caterpillar operates in Vietnam

Caterpillar operates in Vietnam

HANOI (Reuter): Caterpillar Inc, the U.S. heavy construction
equipment giant, has launched its Vietnam operations with the
announced founding of a 100-percent U.S.-owned local company, V-
TRAC.

V-TRAC's majority shareholder is Anthony D. Salzman, an
American businessman who came to Vietnam in 1992, when a U.S.
economic embargo barred Caterpillar from doing business in
Vietnam. Washington lifted that embargo last February.

Caterpillar also holds an equity interest in V-TRAC, which
will sell, lease, rent and maintain its heavy equipment for
mining, road- and dam construction and a wide range of other
uses, V-TRAC said in a statement.

Vietnam is planning some huge construction projects, some
funded by international agencies like the World Bank, to upgrade
its roads, ports, airports and other outdated infrastructure in
the next 20 years.

Japan's Komatsu, already established in Vietnam, is expected
to be one of V-TRAC's main competitors in supplying heavy
equipment for these projects.