VinaCapital plans $350 mln Vietnam real estate fund

SINGAPORE, June 23 (Reuters) - VinaCapital, Vietnam's largest asset manager, aims to raise $350 million in a real estate private equity fund in September to tap a local sector that it thinks has bottomed, a company official said on Tuesday.

The proposed VinaCapital Vietnam Land II fund will focus on residential developments, shopping malls and business hotels, David Blackhall, deputy managing director of VinaCapital's real estate arm, told Reuters in an interview.

"Vietnam is already showing signs that it has stabilised," he said, adding the residential sector offered the greatest potential because prices had fallen sharply since the end of 2007 and the country's growing middle class could afford to buy homes.

Market 'maturing' in Vietnam

Real estate developers in Vietnam are drawing up strategic partnerships with other investors in a sign that the property market is maturing...

A lot of alliances and partnerships have been set up since the beginning of the second quarter, especially in the Ho Chi Minh City real estate market.

Analysts say that the professionalisation of investment, construction, distribution and management will be seen in the market as a move towards sustainable development.

Strategic partnerships on the increase as Vietnam property market

Hoang Anh River View apartments

Real estate developers in Vietnam are drawing up strategic partnerships with other investors in a sign that the property market is maturing.

A lot of alliances and partnerships have been set up since the beginning of the second quarter, especially in the Ho Chi Minh City real estate market.

Analysts say that the professionalisation of investment, construction, distribution and management will be seen in the market as a move towards sustainable development.

Some of the major partnerships include Hoang Anh Gia Lai Housing Construction and Development Corporation opting for a strategic partnership with An Binh Land Real Estate Investment Company.

Tech-reliant Vietnam hit hard by downturn

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — It's hard to see hints of an economic downturn on the horn-blaring streets of this commercial hub.

High-end restaurants are overflowing, fashionably dressed young women fill chic stores, and everyone seems to be talking on cell phones while plowing motorbikes through roundabouts swarming with Honda scooters and SUV taxis. Vietnam's main stock market, after losing 66 percent last year, has been riding a seven-month high, up more than 20 percent this year.

But the conspicuous consumption masks the reality that the global economic implosion is rippling across the Pacific and jolting this Communist Southeast Asian country, which had enthusiastically ridden the rising tide of globalization. Small Taiwanese manufacturers of low-end tech products silently closed plants in Vietnam for good during the New Year Tet celebration without telling workers.

Savills opens real estate trading floor in Hanoi

UK-based real estate service provider Savills Vietnam opened a property trading floor Wednesday in Hanoi, a company spokeswoman said.

It had received a license last month from the Ministry of Planning and Investment, becoming the first foreign-owned firm to receive a nationwide license, the company said.