HCM City (VNA) – Vietnam has seen a series of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in its property market in 2016, a trend expected to continue throughout the year.
Notable M&As in the first quarter included TNR Holdings’ purchase of TNR Tower in Hanoi from Vingroup for 110 million USD.
Keppel Land spent 93.9 million USD to buy part of the Empire City project in District 2 (Ho Chi Minh City) from Empire City Ltd, while Hyatt and Thaigroup bought a hotel in Hanoi for 165 million USD.
JLL Vietnam, a real estate services firm, said many projects are attracting investors such as A&B Tower in HCM City’s District 1, the Nam Hai Resort in Quang Nam province and the Six Senses Con Dao resort in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province.
The company also saw great interest from investors from the Republic of Korean, Japanese and Singaporean in Vietnamese real estate. It forecasts more M&As this year thanks to improvements in the market and growth slowdowns in some regional countries.
Marc Townsend, Managing Director at CBRE Vietnam, expects the market to be bustling with M&As and new investors.
In HCM City, the municipal People’s Committee approved the acquisition of 23 property projects in 2015, more than twice the amount of the previous year. Five projects asked for acquisition approval in Q1 of 2016, according to Chairman of the city’s real estate association Le Hoang Chau.
He noted that the 137 suspended projects in the city are also a potential source of M&As if favourable policies are provided.-VNA