“It took us one year to negotiate and come to the funding agreement. The Japanese investment fund is very cautious with its investment decisions,” said Nguyen Trung Tin, CEO of An Gia Investment.

An Gia received $200 million from a foreign fund to develop six projects. Tin said the company attracted another foreign fund and is going to cooperate with the third foreign fund from the UK.

With capital from foreign partners, Thu Duc House has developed five projects in HCMC and Hanoi, implemented by a joint venture with a South Korean group.

Nguyen Ngoc Truong Chinh, deputy CEO of Thu Duc House, said the State Bank is following a roadmap to restrict cash flow into the real estate market. Real estate firms can seek capital from foreign investors.

Having poured money into Vietnam’s real estate projects, Creed Group is optimistic about Vietnam’s economy, seeing great potential in affordably priced housing and A-class office market segments.

Yamaguchi Masakazu, chief representative of Creed Group in Vietnam, said he believes Vietnam will be among the fastest growing economies in the world, and that the country bears little influence from the US-China trade war.

A study from HSBC showed that $70 billion worth of capital will be funnelled into Southeast Asia in the next five years, and Vietnam and Indonesia are the top choices for investors.

Tran Nhat Khanh, director of VinaCapital Ventures, said the fund is most interested in finance, healthcare, retail and logistics.

Explaining the interest in the finance sector, Khanh said 60 percent of Vietnamese still do not have bank accounts. He estimated that in 10-12 years, the added value in the sector would be as much as $78 billion.

Asked which factors the fund will consider when considering making investments, Khanh said he will seek answers to some questions: Will the products be able to create a large market? Will the products create social value? Is it possible for the products to go beyond Vietnam and reach the world market?

The fund will also assess the founders of the businesses. In general, investors want managers with long-term vision and capability to develop their businesses globally.

“We prefer teams of managers with two or three members, and each of them has their advantages in technology, finance, digitalization and sale skills, compared to companies with only one leader in charge of everything,” Khanh said.

Besides foreign capital, Vietnam’s businesses can also seek capital from domestic sources. Deputy director of SBV HCMC Branch Nguyen Hoang Minh said that local banks have VND500 trillion worth of capital ready for disbursement this year.

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Mai Lan