Keppel Land to entirely divest from Nam Long after a decade of being strategic shareholder

Ibeworth Pte Ltd, a company under Singapore's Keppel Land, on Monday announced that it will sell over 29.4 million Nam Long Group (HoSE: NLG) shares to restructure its portfolio.

These are all the shares Ibeworth Pte Ltd is holding at Nam Long, a major real estate developer in southern Vietnam.

This entity is the second largest shareholder at Nam Long with a 7.64% stake (29,418,766 shares), after Nam Long chairman Nguyen Xuan Quang (9.47%).

Keppel Land, via Ibeworth Pte Ltd, became a strategic shareholder of Nam Long following its purchase of 7.1 million shares in a private placement in 2015.

In a notice sent to the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) on Monday, Ibeworth Pte Ltd stated that they will make the divestment via put-through transactions. The expected trading time is from July 24- August 22, 2025. The notice was signed by Joseph Low Kar Yew, its representative.

The expected value of the transaction based on the par value is over VND294 billion ($11.24 million). If based on the closing price on Monday, the proceeds will be VND1,176 billion ($44.96 million).

Late last year, Ibeworth Pte Ltd had registered to sell 2 million NLG shares for restructuring its portfolio.

On the HoSE, NLG closed Monday at VND40,000 ($1.53) per share, a 11% increase against the beginning of this year and 1.5 times higher than the bottom set in April.

Joseph Low Kar Yew is currently a member of Nam Long's board of directors cum member of the group's audit committee. At the Real Estate Divison of Keppel, he is president in charge of Vietnam.

According to its Q1 disclosures, Keppel reported total SGD347 million ($270 million) in proceeds from divestments of some projects and subsidiaries in the period.

This includes the partial sale of Phase 3 of Saigon Centre, located in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. Keppel brought in SGD98 million ($76.54 million) from selling a 22.6% stake at this property complex.

Saigon Centre is a prime office, retail, and hotel complex, spanning 19,668 square meters over five development phases. Phase 3, covering 8,623 sqm, has faced construction delays due to unresolved land clearance issues for years.

Keppel previously held an 84% stake in Saigon Centre Phase 3 through two subsidiaries. In late 2024, the company sold a 16% stake in the project, generating SGD62.2 million ($48.5 million) from the transaction.

Following the latest divestment, Keppel now retains a 41.4% stake in the project.

In April, Keppel announced it had completed the sale of a 42% stake in Palm City, a mixed-use township in Thu Duc city, HCMC, to Gateway Thu Thiem JSC for SGD141 million ($110 million).

Keppel Land, the group’s real estate arm, has operated in Vietnam since the early 1990s. It is one of the largest foreign developers in the country, with major investments in Estella Heights, Celesta Rise, Empire City, and Saigon Centre.

In the first quarter of 2025, Nam Long Group recorded a net profit of VND108 billion ($4.15 million) on revenue of VND1.39 trillion ($53.49 million), a significant improvement from revenue of VND205 billion and a net loss of VND77 billion in the same period last year.

The company aims to achieve a net profit of VND701 billion ($27 million) in 2025, up 35% year-on-year, driven by strong local housing demand.

Nam Long targets VND6.79 trillion ($261 million) in net revenue and VND14.64 trillion ($562.8 million) in presales this year, nearly 2.8 times higher than in 2024.