M&As pick up pace in Vietnam property market

Vietnam’s ailing real estate market is witnessing a rising number of merger and acquisition (M&A) deals, mostly with overseas buyers who can arrange capital sources to counter the credit crunch in the country.

“Foreign institutional investors are still keeping a close eye on the Vietnamese property market, and we’ve received lots of inquiries from them,” Trang Bui, country manager of Cushman & Wakefield Vietnam, told a recent press briefing in HCMC.

“The credibility of foreign investors in the market still exists,” she said, noting the fact that Vietnam is growing into a new global manufacturing hub with the presence of leading multinational corporations.

The ailing market is expected to pick up next year and rally in 2025 as it becomes a more institutional investor market, according to Cushman & Wakefield, a prominent property services firm.

Cushman & Wakefield Vietnam has recorded some good signals in the licensing process for a number of projects but acknowledged that there are still many projects delayed in the legal approval process.

For more real estate investment activities to take place in the market, Vietnam needs to achieve a higher level of transparency and better urban planning, as well as a stronger legal framework to attract foreign investors, according to the company.

Singapore as capital source

Singapore’s Keppel Corporation announced on July 6 that Keppel Land Limited, through its wholly-owned subsidiary VN Prime Vietnam Company, is acquiring a 65% stake in a company to be incorporated (ProjectCo) which will hold a retail property in Hanoi. The project is part of a mixed-use commercial development, which is under construction and slated for completion in 2025.

The subsidiary, or VNPV, will make the deal for an aggregate consideration of approximately VND1.23 trillion ($52 million) subject to completion adjustments. The consideration will be payable in cash in two tranches. Vietnamese firm Binh Minh Investment and Trading Development JSC will hold the remaining 35% interest in ProjectCo.

In late May, Keppel Corporation said it had acquired a 49% stake in two adjacent residential projects in Ho Chi Minh City from Vietnamese property developer Khang Dien for VND3.18 trillion ($135.42 million).

According to Keppel’s announcement, the Vietnamese firm, listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) as KDH, holds the remaining 51% interest and will develop the projects in Thu Duc city on HCMC’s outskirts with Keppel Corporation and Keppel Vietnam Fund, jointly known as the Keppel consortium. This marked the second joint investment by the consortium following the acquisition of three residential sites in Hanoi in 2022.

The acquisition price was S$159.7 million ($118 million). Keppel and its Vietnamese partner HCMC-based Phu Long planned to develop about 1,260 residences comprised of over 1,000 condominium units and more than 200 detached homes. The project is part of Mailand Hanoi City, a project now in the works that features residential properties, mixed-use complexes, schools, and hospitals.

Keppel Corp. is tapping emerging markets like Vietnam for growth as the country is gaining traction as a manufacturing hub for investors seeking to diversify from China in the “China plus one” trend to reduce concentration risks.

Keppel counts Singapore state investor Temasek as a major shareholder as Singapore-headquartered CapitaLand Group.

Real estate giant CapitaLand this July appointed the first head of sustainability for its recently privatized property development arm, CapitaLand Development (CLD). Taking on the role is Giovanni Cossu, an Italian national who joins the company from the National University of Singapore. He joins with a brief to boost CLD’s sustainability capabilities for its building and precinct projects, which have a combined portfolio value of S$22 billion ($16 billion), with a strategic focus on the Singapore, Vietnam, and China markets.

On June 5, Jonathan Yap became the new CEO at CLD. This March, CapitaLand showed an interest in acquiring some assets from Vietnam’s biggest listed property firm Vinhomes JSC, part of the country’s largest conglomerate Vingroup.

CapitaLand was in talks to acquire some assets worth roughly $1.5 billion from Vinhomes, Reuters said on March 17. A deal of that size would mark one of the largest real estate transactions in Southeast Asia in the last few years.

CLD said last July it was acquiring a mixed-use site of eight hectares in HCMC, Vietnam’s southern economic hub, to develop a project including over 1,100 high-end residential units and shophouses.

“We continue to expand in our core market Vietnam by securing another highly coveted site in Thu Duc of Ho Chi Minh City after our recent investment in Binh Duong and a memorandum of understanding with the government to invest in up-and-coming Bac Giang province,” CLD Vietnam CEO Ronald Tay said while announcing the deal.

A Singaporean firm completed its acquisition of major Ho Chi Minh City-based real estate developer Novaland’s F&B business (Nova F&B) this June.

VinaCapital, a leading investment management firm in Vietnam, acted as the broker for the deal, but the buyer’s name and transaction value could not be revealed under the contract.

Singapore-headquartered IN Holdings, which was not the buyer, is the new operator of Nova F&B, and the chain has been renamed IN Dining. Vietnamese businesswoman Nguyen Thanh Ha Ngoc was appointed legal representative and general director of IN Dining. She is also CEO of HCMC-based IN Hospitality JSC, which operates large convention and event centers including the GEM Center and White Palace in the southern economic hub.

Novaland’s divestment aimed at an intensified focus on its core business - real estate development. In February, Dallas Vietnam Gamma Ltd., one of Novaland's bondholders, agreed to exchange bonds for a stake in two Novaland subsidiaries - Thanh Nhon Real Estate and Mui Ne General Investment.

The transaction was worth VND1 trillion ($43.4 million). Dallas Vietnam Gamma is not a domestic company.

In mid-June, Dragon Capital, a leading fund manager in Vietnam, bought back 1,050,000 KDH shares in real estate firm Khang Dien to raise its ownership from 10.96% to 11.1%.

Khang Dien sold a 49% stake in two adjacent residential projects in HCMC to Keppel in late May.

HCMC-based Saigon Real Estate Corp. (Saigonres) signed a deal in early April under which it would transfer An Phu Riverview Apartments and An Phu Residences in Thu Duc to Saigon Riverside Investment Co. Ltd.

The two projects are estimated to cost more than VND900 billion ($38.2 million). If the transaction goes through, Saigonres would get around VND600-650 billion ($25.44 - 27.6 million) for the two projects.

Three-hotel deal

In mid-June, Thai real estate investment trust SHREIT sold three hotels representing 632 keys in HCMC and Indonesia’s Jakarta for $106.1 million.

In a filing with the Stock Exchange of Thailand, Strategic Property Investors, the manager of Strategic Hospitality Extendable Freehold and Leasehold Real Estate Investment Trust (SHREIT), identified the buyer as EverLand Opportunities IX Limited, a British Virgin Islands-incorporated company.

The transaction marked the first hotel portfolio sale in Southeast Asia for 2023, according to Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), which acted as the exclusive adviser to the seller in the deal.

The three hotels were the Ibis Saigon South and Capri by Fraser in HCMC’s District 7, and the Pullman Jakarta Central Park. SHREIT’s hotel portfolio solely consists of the three hotels.

The four-star Capri by Fraser has 175 keys, and the three-star Ibis Saigon South has 140. Meanwhile, the Jakarta property has 317 rooms.