Since commercial banks have tightened lending to the real estate sector, many realtors cannot find capital to develop projects. But opportunities always exist in danger. The realtors with powerful financial capability are rushing to buy land and design long-term development plans.

The first six months saw for many M&A deals. Viva Land bought Capital Place, an A-class office building in the central area of Hanoi, from CapitaLand Development, for $550 million.

Prior to that, Viva Land acquired Saigon One Tower and renamed it IFC One Saigon. The project, comprising offices, apartments and shopping center with total area of 124,100 sqm, is located in an advantageous position in district 1 in HCM City.

The housing market segment also witnessed a series of major M&A deals. Novaland acquired Kenton Node project with 1,640 apartments from Tai Nguyen Construction Production and Trade, while Masterise Homes acquired Sai Gon Binh An, covering an area of 117 hectares and renamed it The Global City.

In Dong Nai province, the 200-hectare Swan Bay projects will continue to be developed by Phu Long Real Estate JSC. NamLong Investment JSC has wrapped up the purchase of the 170-hectare project from Keppel Land.

In an effort to arrange financial sources to pay money back to bond holders, Tan Hoang Minh Group is seeking buyers for its projects.

In the industrial real estate market segment, Masterise Homes has bought 49 percent of shares in KTG & Boustead Industrial Logistics JSC in YenPhong IZ in BacNinh province at $6.9 million.

Investment funds have also poured money into real estate firms. Warburg Pincus has announced a $250 million investment into Novaland. VinaCapital and Dragon Capital have announced an investment of $103 million into Hung Thinh Land JSC, while Dat Xanh has spent VND1.04 trillion to establish four subsidiaries in the fields of technology, finance and real estate.

Cushman & Wakefield’s CEO Trang Bui said the market has received stronger interest from foreign investors, especially in projects which create profits.

The development of private investment funds has provided sufficient capital to implement M&A deals. Investors are looking for operational real estate projects, or teaming up with partners to set up joint ventures. 

As for domestic investors, buying land to develop projects is a higher priority.

Cushman&Wakefield Vietnam has noticed that international investors favor teaming up with Vietnamese partners to set up joint ventures to develop projects.

The interests of investors remain unchanged and they mostly are targeting traditional assets, such as housing products, land plots, and industrial–office–retail real estate. 

Duy Anh