Industrial real estate makes up 35% of property M&A deals in H1

Industrial real estate accounted for 35% of merger and acquisition deals in Vietnam's property sector in the first half of the year, second only to the office segment with 39%, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

The year started with a bang as multinational GLP established a fund named GLP Vietnam Development Partners I with $1.1 billion to invest in six logistics sites totaling nearly 900,000 square meters. GLP is a leading global investment manager and business developer in logistics, data infrastructure, and renewable energy.

In February, BW Industrial Development JSC, a joint venture between Vietnam’s Becamex IDC and leading global equity firm Warburg Pincus, announced its acquisition of around 74,000 square meters of land in Bac Tien Phong Industrial Park in the northern province of Quang Ninh, developed by DEEP C.

CapitaLand Development, a subsidiary of Singapore-based CapitaLand, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Bac Giang’s administration the same month. The partnership deal is for the development of an urban, industrial and logistics project with a total area exceeding 400 hectares in the northern province, with an investment commitment of $1 billion.

In H1, Boustead Projects Co. acquired a 49% stake in KTG & Boustead Logistics Industry JSC in Yen Phong Industrial Park of nearby Bac Ninh for $6.9 million.

This June, Hong Kong-based private investment firm Gaw Capital Partners disclosed an investment into a Tier 3 Data Center project, covering over 6,000 square meters in Ho Chi Minh City’s Saigon Hi-Tech Park, or SHTP.

“Vietnam’s real estate market has been attracting great attention from foreign investors, especially for its profitable projects. Growth of private equity funds has also supplied a large source of investment for M&A transactions,” said Trang Bui, country head of Cushman & Wakefield.

“These investors are constantly looking for active properties or looking to enter into joint ventures with reputable partners. For domestic investors, acquiring land for project development is of higher priority.

"Every sector of the property market is gaining attention from investors. We believe that residential and industrial will be the most attractive sectors for investors and developers from HCMC, Hanoi, and neighboring provinces,” she added.

Vietnam saw a record $10.06 billion in disbursed foreign direct investment in Vietnam in H1, marking the highest growth in five years. Real estate ranked second among the most invested sectors, accounting for 26% of total inflows. Investors from Singapore, South Korea, Denmark, China, and Japan led these inflows.

In addition to industrial real estate, Vietnam’s office M&A market in H1 heated up with HCMC-based Viva Land’s $550 million acquisition of Capital Place from CapitaLand Development.

The property is a grade-A office building in Hanoi’s Ba Dinh district, featuring a pair of twin 37-storey towers home to multinational tenants like HSBC Vietnam, Porsche, Standard Chartered Vietnam, and Toto Vietnam. It was the first office development in Hanoi then to obtain a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification.

Established in 2020 and helmed by former CapitaLand veterans Eddie Lim and Chen Lian Pang, Viva Land completed its acquisition of the Saigon One Tower not long before the Hanoi transfer, and changed its name to IFC One Saigon. The project is located in the heart of District 1, HCMC, and is set to become an integrated office, apartments, and shopping mall property with a total floor area of 124,100 square meters.

In the housing market in H1, leading property developer Novaland acquired the Kenton Node project from Tai Nguyen Construction, Production, and Trading Co. This is a luxury apartment project in HCMC’s Nha Be District. Post-acquisition, the project - renamed Grand Sentosa - will supply the Saigon South area with a total 1,640 luxury apartments.

Another notable M&A deal was Masterise Home’s acquisition of the Saigon Binh An project, now known as The Global City in the Thu Duc area. With an area of 117 hectares, the project is close to the Saigon Sports City complex and Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway.

This June, American giant Warburg Pincus announced a $250 million investment into Novaland to increase the Vietnamese major’s land reserves and develop existing projects in strategic locations, taking advantage of the gradually improving infrastructure in southern Vietnam.

In May, Hung Thinh Land of HCMC-based Hung Thinh Group received a $78 million investment from Vietnam-focused Dragon Capital and another $25 million from VinaCapital Group. Via the deal, VinaCapital estimated Hung Thinh Land’s market value at around $2 billion, with the property firm expecting at least $200 million from its initial public offering in 2023, with plans to sell a 10% stake.