Vietnam's leading developer Becamex seeks to become billion-dollar company

Becamex, a leading industrial real estate developer in Vietnam, is strongly restructuring itself, attracting more private investment capital, and reducing state ownership, with an aim to become a billion-dollar company.

Becamex's "turning point"

Becamex (HoSE: BCM) is facing a "turning point" as the business context is witnessing "decisive changes", especially the policy of merging some provinces and cities in Vietnam, chairman Nguyen Van Hung told the company's AGM on Thursday.

"We are facing big challenges, but they also open up many opportunities. Still, we have many shortcomings to address to adapt to the new situation," Hung told the shareholders.

According to the top Becamex leader, in 2025, the company will prioritize studying opportunities in Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong after their merger, as the new locality is considered a major driving force of the country's double-digit economic growth in the coming years.

"Although HCMC is facing many challenges in its role as an expanding economic center, the integrated urban area after its merger with Binh Duong will open up new development space for both businesses and people.

"For a long time, we have received approval from the Binh Duong administration to develop many industrial parks in the north of the province," he said.

Hung noted that after the merger, a shift of production is inevitable. HCMC currently lacks land for relocation and expansion of industrial parks. "Having many industrial park projects approved is a move by Becamex to support its future development. This also shows that we have prepared very carefully for this special period," the chairman added.

According to Hung, Becamex's goal in the coming period is to reduce the state ownership in the company, expand development space, and attract more strategic investors, aiming to become a company worth tens of billions of USD.

"This is a restructuring phase of Becamex. If difficulties continue, we will propose the government extend the capital mobilization period until 2030, so as to have enough time to manage and take advantage of investment opportunities in the southern key economic region and the country as a whole.

The company's demand for investment is very large, while its resources are limited. Therefore, Becamex will promote cooperation with other companies, both state-owned and private, especially large corporations, to jointly develop key projects, especially in the HCMC-linked area," Hung highlighted.

U.S. tariffs to have negligible impact

In response to shareholders' questions, general director Pham Ngoc Thuan said that Becamex's 2025 business plan was built in the context of a volatile and uncertain market, notably with an impact from U.S. tariffs. "But the impact of the tariffs would not be significant."

"The company has adjusted its expectations somewhat compared to before, but still maintains a positive growth target. The scenarios are built flexibly to respond to the actual situation. US tariffs will certainly have an impact. However, we need to look at the whole picture.

"The U.S. accounts for only about 25% of global GDP, while Vietnam has signed 15 free trade agreements with other countries. This creates a stable foundation and helps to diversify trade partners, reducing the risk of dependence," Thuan said.

He noted that the Vietnamese Government has acted very quickly to clarify its views on trade and proactively engaged in international dialogues. "As a result, after the U.S tax announcement, many investors continued their investment plans at Becamex's industrial parks."

Even after April 10, investors returned more strongly. This shows that Vietnam remains attractive, and the company's plans have not been greatly affected, he added.

President Trump on April 9 dropped his reciprocal tariffs for countries reaching out to the U.S. to negotiate to 10% for 90 days.

According to Thuan, in the coming time, Becamex's demand for capital to carry out strategic tasks assigned by the Government and the province is very large.

In 2025, Becamex will start construction on the Bau Bang Industrial Park Phase 2 project (380 ha) and the Cay Truong Industrial Park project (700 ha), expanding its land fund available for lease in Binh Duong province.

The company is also researching investing in new-generation industrial park projects with new features in terms of science-technology and information technology in Binh Duong and investing in expanding service-urban-industrial park projects under new models in other provinces like Tay Ninh, Khanh Hoa, Binh Thuan, and Binh Phuoc.

Becamex is working on the Viet Sing Zone 6 social housing project, with a scale of 1,867 units. The project is expected to conduct handovers in 2027.

The company has also been approved by Binh Duong authorities to invest in five other social housing projects, with a total of more than 8,600 units.

The total investment will be VND6,200 billion ($239.2 million), and the projects will be en masse implemented from 2025, according to Thuan.

In addition, in early February 2025, the company and its partners in a consortium commenced construction on the HCMC-Thu Dau Mot-Chon Thanh expressway project under the BOT contract form, with a total investment of over VND8,833 billion ($340.77 million).

Becamex IDC holds 49% of the charter capital of this expressway project, which is expected to be completed in 2027.

The company also proposed a Ring Road 4 project through Binh Duong. This project is expected to open bidding in Q2/2025. It is studying proposing a Ring Road 3 project through this province.

Splitting up the issuance of shares

With its current charter capital of only VND10,350 billion ($399.3 million), the company is facing great limitations in financial resources, even when using up almost the entire 15% loan limit for each project as prescribed.

According to the general director, the company once planned to issue 300 million shares to raise capital, but the plan did not materialize due to a sharp drop in stock prices over the impact of the U.S. tariff information.

"Becamex decided to postpone the plan to protect shareholders' interests, avoiding dilution of shares at low prices. In the near future, we will divide the issuance process, starting with 150 million shares in phase 1, via a public auction. This will help us be more flexible and reduce market pressure," said Thuan.

"The starting price is not less than VND50,000 ($1.93) per share - the minimum level that reflects the true brand value. If the auction is successful, the proceeds will be at least VND7,500 billion ($289.35 million). However, the actual selling price is expected to be higher, thereby increasing the total mobilized capital to about VND20,000 billion ($771.6 million)," he added.

Becamex leaders said that this capital is still only "a very small portion" compared to the actual demand. In the 2025-2030 period, Becamex IDC aims to implement 5-6 large-scale industrial park and urban area projects, with a total expected investment capital of up to hundreds of thousands of billions of VND (VND100,000 billion = $3.86 billion).

"To become big and sustainable, we must have strong internal financial strength. This is a decisive step to create a proactive position in the new period," said the Becamex general director.

Becamex aims for revenue of VND9,500 billion ($366.5 million) in 2025, up 29% from the previous year, and after-tax profit of VND2,470 billion ($95.29 million), up 3%. The dividend rate in 2024 is 11% in cash or shares, and the figure in 2025 is 10%.

To pay dividends in 2024, if paid in shares, this year, Becamex plans to issue nearly 114 million shares (equivalent to 11% of the total outstanding shares, not subject to transfer restrictions). The charter capital after dividend payment will increase to VND11,489 billion ($443.25 million).

In case of cash payment, the board of directors will implement it within six months from the date of the AGM.