A Short Explanation of Foreign Direct investment – Things You Need to Know – Do you ever hear about the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)? It is a kind of investment that is made by the firm or individual. The investment is made in one specific country. However, the business interest will be located in another country. Some people think that FDI is almost similar to portfolio investment. However, in reality, the FDI is different with the portfolio investment. FDI involves the establishment of foreign business operations in a foreign company. Meanwhile, the portfolio investment happens when the investor can but some interests in the foreign company that has been built for such a long time.
Before deciding to participate in the FDI, you may need to consider several things. First, the ways of FDI. This investment can be made in different ways. For example, a merger of a foreign company. Another example is the new opening of the new branch from a foreign company. In this case, you can establish a new associate company in the interested country. FDI also can be made into the acquirement of a well-established foreign company. According to the guideline of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a firm or individual needs to consider the amount of the threshold. Normally, the minimum threshold is about 10% of all ownership. However, considering the flexibility of the company, it is suggested to take less than 10% of the threshold.
Generally, Foreign Direct Investment can be divided into three types that are Horizontal FDI, Platform FDI, and Vertical FDI. The horizontal FDI means that the firm or individual will open a foreign company with the same type of business in the home country. Meanwhile, vertical investment means that the company will develop a different business operation in a foreign country. However, the business operation still has some correlation with the business operation in the home country. Since the business operation can be made into an upstream or downstream plot, it is called the vertical FDI. Another type of FDI is Platform FDI. This type will involve the direct investment of the company in the home country to a foreign country. The investment has a goal to export the product in the third country.
Foreign Direct Investment uses some different methods in the practical. The first one is the firm will incorporate the new company or associate company. Meanwhile, the second method is about sharing the threshold in the associate company. The third method is the merger process of the other enterprises that don’t have anything to do with the company. The fourth method is the merger process of the same or correlated enterprises. The FDI also can be differentiated into some different forms. A company can have several forms of FDI agreements. The forms of FDI are tax holidays, preferential tariffs, low corporate tax, individual income tax rate, special economic Zone, bonded warehouses, financial subsidies, Export Processing Zones (EPZ), land subsidies, free land, energy, relocation, expatriation, infrastructure subsidies, and others.