VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC) and commercial banks have been seizing a series of valuable real estate assets to collect debts.

BIDV’s Exchange No 2 has announced the auction of debt of Vina Medin JSC and 584 Group, worth VND1.1 trillion, including the principal and interest as of July 31, 2017. The starting price is VND810.3 billion.

The collateral for the loan is a 174.5 square meter land plot and the 584 Tan Kien residential quarter project in Binh Chanh district, which includes two 15-storey apartment buildings with 700 apartments. The residential quarter was put into operation in mid-2011. 

Some days ago, VAMC announced that it had seized Saigon One Tower building developed by Sai Gon One Tower JSC because the debtor failed to pay off its debts (principal and interest) of VND7 trillion.

According to the HCMC Real Estate Association, in HCMC alone, 470 projects are frozen, most of which are collateral for loans.

Maritime Bank has announced the seizure of property in Phu My Hung new urban area in district 7, HCMC, which is collateral for a loan.

Agribank Binh Chanh has also announced the auction of an apartment project at No 339 Bong Sao Road in HCMC to collect debt. The starting price is VND63 billion.

After three delays, the Long An Provincial Civil Judgment Enforcement Department has issued a decision to distrain the Happyland project developed by Phu An Construction & Infrastructure Development. Happyland was advertised as the largest entertainment complex in Southeast Asia.

In 2015, the Vietnam International Arbitration Center in HCMC released a decision on forcing Phu An to pay $5.125 million to a company from Russia.

The future of the projects seized for foreclosure is uncertain. Tens of people who paid 80-90 percent of value of apartments showed protests against the plan to turn the apartment project into a hospital with 1,000 beds.

The HCMC People’s Committee has decided to stop new urban area development projects of the company until the existing problems are settled.

Saigon One Tower was one of the most expected projects in HCMC. However, two years after the kickoff, the $256 million project fell into a deadlock. By 2011, when the implementation stopped, 80 percent of works had been done.

Initial founding shareholders, including Dong A Bank, Dong A Securities and Phu Nhuan Jewelry (PNJ) withdrew from the project. Meanwhile, M&C JSC stopped operations because of the unpaid tax debts and bore inspections. 

A lot of big corporations have had to sell projects to get money for debt payment. In 2012, PVL auctioned PetroVietnam Green House after it injected VND163.3 billion into the project. In October 2011, PVL sold PetroVietnam Landmark in HCMC.

According to the HCMC Real Estate Association, in HCMC alone, 470 projects are frozen, most of which are collateral for loans.

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