Big guys rush to withdraw capital from property projects

Dec 8th at 14:22

08-12-2012 14:22:22+07:00

A lot of the big guys in the real estate sector have offered to sell stakes in real estate projects. It seems that they have run out of patience in the long spell of cold market.

The Vietnam Construction and Import-Export Company (Vinaconex) has posted on its official website the letter of interest invitation, mentioning the restructuring of the investment portfolio in the An Khanh JVC, an urban area development company.

The big guy informed that it plans to transfer the capital contribution in the An Khanh JVC, a joint venture between Vinaconex and South Korean Posco E&C to the Vietnamese economic institutions or the foreign institutions operating in Vietnam.

An Khanh JVC was established in December 2006 to implement the project on developing the new urban area Bac An Khanh – Splendora in Hanoi. The project has the estimated investment capital of 2.57 billion dollars, covering an area of 245 hectares. The investor plans to implement the project in five stages from March 2008 to December 2018.

Prior to that, Vinaconex successfully transferred its 25 percent of stakes (3.75 million shares) in Vinaconex Hoang Thanh, the investor of the ParkCity project.

ParkCity, expected to cover an area of 77 hectares in Ha Dong district, is a project developed by VIDC, a joint venture between Perdana ParkCity (S) Pte (Singapore) and Vinaconex Hoang Thanh.

The project was officially kicked off in March 2010 with the total investment capital of 1.5 trillion dong, which is scheduled to be completed in 10 years.

VinaCapital, another big cheese in the real estate sector, has also transferred all of its 50.1 percent of its stakes in the A&B high express project in HCM City, and has sold 70 percent of its stakes in the five star hotel Hilton Hanoi Opera.

The move has been explained by the fact that the office rental office has cooled down, which has prompted the investment fund to funnel its capital into the other business fields.

VinaLand, managed by VinaCapital, has also withdrawn its capital from the international housing development project in district 9 in HCM City, after selling 85 percent of stakes in Mandarin Garden in Hanoi late last year.

VinaCapital’s General Director Don Lam has confirmed that VinaCapital has withdrawn 100 percent of its capital from 10 projects out of its invested 36 projects, and withdrawn a part of the capital from one project.

Meanwhile, the investor does not intend to pour any money into the real estate sector in the next three years.

In early November 2012, a big shareholder of the Ninh Van Bay Tourism Real Estate Company (NVT) – Spinnaker GEMF Ltd sold all of its 3.15 million NVT shares.

The Son Ha International Company has also announced the plan to withdraw capital from some real estate projects to gather its strength on the retail market.

Currently, Son Ha is implementing some big projects in Hanoi, namely the Kien Hung urban area in Ha Dong district, Paradise Garden, the office building on Huynh Thuc Khang Street, the Song Hong office building and the Kim Giang residential quarter.

Especially, a big name in the oil and gas sector – PetroVietnam Finance Company (PVFC) has also been trying to escape from the real estate market. It is now offering to sell 10 percent of its stakes in PetroLand.

Phan Xuan Can, President of SohoVietnam, a real estate firm, said investors try to quit the real estate market when they need money to focus on their main business fields.

Can also said that the capital withdrawal by a lot of investors has brought the opportunities to restructure the real estate market. This would allow capable investors to access and develop projects professionally.