Da Nang IT Park is a huge project developed in accordance with the US’s Silicon Valley model and meets the standards of a concentrated IT zone of international stature in Da Nang.

With total investment capital of over VND2 trillion, the project was developed by Trung Nam EMS JSC.

Da Nang IT Park, covering an area of 341 hectares in Hoa Lien commune in Hoa Vang district, was expected to become one of the best growing IT development communities in Asia which would provide the best IT products, and be an ideal workplace for 25,000 people, including high-quality specialists, engineers and workers. 

It was designed to become a satellite urban area in the northwestern part of Da Nang City, accommodating 100,000 residents.

However, the project has not developed as initially expected and has been in stagnation. The area for villas for specialists and the ecological park, a component project of Da Nang IT Park, has been left idle.

Da Nang IT Park’s investor

The investor of the project is DITP (Da Nang IT Park Development JSC), known as a business related to Trung Nam Group. It is a multi-field group founded and run by two brothers Nguyen Tam Tien and Nguyen Tam Thinh. Now Thinh is president and Tien is CEO of Trung Nam Group.

In the recent prospectus about the bond issuance results, DITP showed an email address with a suffix coinciding with Trung Nam Group’s website.

On its website, Trung Nam also introduced itself as an investor of Da Nang IT Park.

On July 22, DITP’s legal representative Nguyen Tam Tien publicized information about the issuance of a 30-month lot of bonds worth VND500 billion with an interest rate of zero percent, which will reach maturity on January 16, 2027.

Trung Nam Group’s health

Established in 2004, Trung Nam Group’s major business fields include energy, infrastructure development, construction, and the electronic information industry. 

Initially based on infrastructure development, the group later invested in real estate development and hydropower, and recently renewables sector. 

A series of wind and solar power projects have been developed by the group, including Trung Nam Thuan Nam solar power, Ea Nam wind power, and Trung Nam – Tra Vinh wind power.

The 20-year-old Trung Nam Group has seen strong growth in the last 10 years, with its total assets reaching billions of dollars.

As of the end of 2022, Trung Nam Group had total assets of VND96 trillion or $3.8 billion according to the current exchange rate, or 50 percent more than the assets of FPT Group at the end of the second quarter in 2024, and 1.8 times higher than Vinamilk’s assets.

Trung Nam Group’s stockholder equity is VND27.9 trillion ($1.1 billion). Its rapid growth recently was attributed to the group’s strategy to focus on developing renewables which need huge capital to develop.

Its official website said that of October 2021, it had contributed 1.63GW of power to the national grid, leading other private enterprises in this industry.

The group runs nine power projects with total investment capital of tens of trillions of dong. Trung Nam Thuan Nam (1.2 billion kwh) and Ea Nam (1.1 billion kwh) a year are the two largest projects. The former is developed by Trung Nam SMC, a subsidiary of Trung Nam Group established in 2013. 

Trung Nam Group is known as a big debtor as it needs huge capital for power projects. One of its favorite capital mobilization channels is bond issuance.

As of the end of 2022, in a report to the Hanoi Stock Exchange, Trung Nam Group had liabilities of VND68.1 trillion ($2.7 billion), and its bond debt was VND24.27 trillion.

In the last two years, Trung Nam has many times asked for payment deadline extensions on bonds related to renewable projects.

In May 2024, Nguyen Tam Thinh proposed a temporary exit suspension as he still could not fulfill the tax duties. Later, the Khanh Hoa Customs Agency sent a document to the Immigration Department asking for the removal of the temporary suspension.

A subsidiary of Trung Nam Group – Trung Nam Thuan Nam Solar Power Co Ltd once sent urgent appeals to the government amid the risks of the 500 KV Thuan Nam transmission line interruption. At that time, the enterprise still had not reached any agreement with EVN (Electricity of Vietnam) on Trung Nam’s sale of electricity, while it had to pay bank loan interest rates daily.

In 2022, Trung Nam Thuan Nam reported a post-tax profit decline of 80 percent compared with the year before, to VND81 billion.

Manh Ha