8 biggest real estate M&A deals in 2013

Vincom Center A in HCM City

In the deal worth VND9.823 trillion, Vingroup, which is owned by the Vietnamese richest stock millionaire Pham Nhat Vuong, transferred the project to VIPD, the Vietnam Infrastructure and Property Development Group, making a profit of VND4.3 trillion.

Vincom Center A is located at No. 53 Le Thanh Toan, 171 Dong Khoi, 6A Le Loi and 116 Nguyen Hue in the central district No 1 in HCM City. It’s comprised of six basements and 9 stories, including the three basements for car parking, while the other three basements and four stories have been used for shopping mall and amusement park. A five star hotel is situated on the 5-9th floors. Vincom Center A was inaugurated in October 2012.

Warbug Pincus buys 20.02 percent of Vincom Retail’s stakes

The investment fund spent $200 million to acquire 20.02 percent of stakes in Vincom Retail in May 2013. Finance Asia noted that this is the biggest ever investment in a Vietnamese business made by an international private capital company.

In 2013, Vingroup inaugurated two big shopping malls in Hanoi. Leading the retail property market segment, Vingroup now possesses 600,000 square meters of retail premises.

Lotte Legend Saigon

The South Korean investor has bought 70 percent of the hotel’s stakes from Kotobuki Group at $62 million. The other 30 percent of the stakes is being held by Vietnamese Hai Thanh Company.

Lotte Legend Saigon is a five-star hotel with 17 stories, 283 rooms and 6 restaurants.

Center Point building

The 17-storey building in Phu Nhuan district has been transferred to another owner in a deal worth $54 million. It has changed hands three times just within two years.

The project was initially developed by Refico with the investment capital of $40 million and became operational in 2009.

Just one year later, the project was transferred to Japan Asia Vietnam, a real estate investment fund. Sources said Refico earned $69 million from the deal.

Meanwhile, a report of CBRE, a real estate service provider, showed the new owner of the project is Mapletree Vietnam.

EXS Capital contributes $37 million into Son Kim Land

The investment from Hong Kong decided to buy Son Kim Land, a subsidiary of Son Kim Group, at $37 million. Besides the initial investment capital, EXS has committed to increase the investment to $50 million or $80 million in the future.

Son Kim Land is considering making investment in six projects, including the two big projects in district 2 in HCM City.

ParkCity Hanoi

In early 2013, Perdana ParkCity (S) Pte (Malaysia) announced it has acquired Park City Hanoi project after buying 100 percent of the project’s contributed capital from VIDC and Vinaconex-Hoang Thanh.

ParkCity Hanoi covers an area of 77 hectares and has the total investment capital of VND1.5 trillion.

ReCapital buys 36 percent of Ninh Van Bay

In early 2013, TechcomCapital and ReCapital from Indonesia poured money into Ninh Van Bay, a firm specializing in developing resort real estate.

Foreign investors now hold 48 percent of Ninh Van Bay’s chartered capital. In 2013, Ninh Van Bay poured VND30 billion into Hoi An project, VND10 billion into Six Sensen Saigon.

Gemadept building transferred to CJ Group

The deal was completed on the last days of 2013, under which Gemadept building was sold to CJ Group from South Korea on December 27.

Manh Ha