Gamuda Land is among foreign companies conducting many real estate M&As in HCM City. (Photo: baodautu.vn) Gamuda, a Malaysia-based propertygroup, recently announced that its subsidiary Gamuda Land has reached anagreement to purchase the entire shares worth over 7.2 trillion VND (nearly 303million USD) of three individuals at the Tam Luc Real Estate Corporation andalso directly own the Tam Luc high-rise housing complex in Ho Chi Minh City. Thehousing project, including trade and service facilities, has a total investment ofnearly 4 trillion VND.
The firm said the deal gave it arare opportunity to increase the land under its ownership at a prime locationin the country's biggest hub in the south and supply more high-quality apartments with minimised risksrelevant to planning and legal issues for the market.
When the real estatemarket faces a tough period with prolonged investment and legal procedures,declined liquidity, and tightened borrowing conditions, enterprises have toconsider selling part or all of their projects to foreign partners. Thismeasure could help them gain money to repay debts, avoid bankruptcy, andfinance other projects, according to Dau tu.
Keppel, a Singaporeanbusiness, has also boosted M&As in the recent past. A notable deal is thesigning of binding agreements by Keppel Consortium (comprising Keppel andKeppel Vietnam Fund) to buy 49% of the Khang Dien company’s shares at two adjacentresidential projects in Thu Duc city of HCM City. This transaction helped KhangDien earn 3.18 trillion VND.
In early March, CapitaLandGroup of Singapore also negotiated to purchase part of Ocean Park 3 Projectof Vinhomes JSC in Hanoi or another project in the north of Hai Phong city at acost of some 1.5 billion USD. This is considered one of the biggest real estatedeals in Southeast Asia in recent years.
Foreign investorshave also bought large volumes of shares at other local property firms such asNovaland and Hung Thinh Land. This is viewed as a way for foreign enterprisesto further engage in the real estate market of Vietnam.
The dealsthat had survey and exploration steps finished in the second quarter of 2023 willbe negotiated in Q3, and the market may witness the first successful M&As, involvingmainly small projects, in Q4. Negotiations on medium- and big-sized deals willcontinue until the end of Q4 or even Q2 of 2024, said the Vietnam Associationof Realtors.
Trang Bui, General Managerof Cushman & Wakefield Vietnam, said though foreign investors are highlyinterested in real estate projects in the country, they are still facingnumerous difficulties to own an asset in this market.
Most investors wantto form joint ventures and conduct M&As rather than pure transactions. Therefore,investment capital is always ready to be poured into the real estate market,but it is a challenge to seek potential projects, she opined.
However, she is stillhighly optimistic about the prospects of Vietnam’s real estate market since thecountry’s fundamentals are all geared towards growth in the property sector./.
VNA
