Big real estate developers eyeing hotels
Many successful merger & acquisition (M&A) deals in the hotel sector were reported in the first six months of the year. Some of the deals were worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Mapletree Group has bought Kumho Asiana Plaza from the joint venture of Kumho Industrial & Asiana Airlines in a transaction valued at US$215 million.
The deal is believed to help Mapletree expand its presence in Vietnam and raise the total assets of the Singaporean group in Vietnam to over SGD1 billion.
Kumho Asiana Plaza is well known as a complex with a total floor area of 146,000 square meter, comprising A-grade offices, serviced apartments and a hotel managed by InterContinental Hotels Group. |
The complex is located along Le Duan and Hai Ba Trung Boulevards in the central business district of Ho Chi Minh City. It became especially famous after the US President Barack Obama stayed there during his visit to Vietnam in late May 2016.
The second hotel transfer deal made in the second quarter of the year was the one in which Low Keng Huat transferred Duxton Hotel Saigon in district 1, Ho Chi Minh City to New Life RE.
The 198-room hotel, located on Nguyen Hue Road, was transferred at the price of US$49.4 million.
The third M&A deal was that Liberty transferred Novotel Saigon Centre to Sai gon Green View (SGGV Investment). The deal had the value of US$46.7 million.
The transfer of Sedona Suites Hanoi caught special attention from the public because the buyer was BRG, one of the most powerful conglomerates, owned by Nguyen Thi Nga, one of the most influential businesswomen in Vietnam.
The other reason was that the hotel is situated on a very advantageous position near West Lake in the capital city.
Official information said Keppel Land Vietnam sold the luxury hotel, run since 1998, to BRG for US$31.5 million.
A real estate expert predicted that more M&A deals may wrap up in the third quarter, saying that M&A in the hotel sector attracts not only foreign but also domestic investors.
According to CBRE Vietnam, a real estate service provider, the market will witness the new face of Sofitel Plaza Hanoi in the third quarter, when it is upgraded and changes names into Pan Pacific.
Nguyen Hoai An from CBRE Vietnam said that the Vietnam’s political stability, high economic growth and increased number of foreign travelers all are the reasons that prompt investors to pay interest in the resort and hotel market.
The investors have also been encouraged by the satisfactory business results of high-end hotels.
Savills Vietnam, in its latest report about the hotel sector, also predicted that more transactions in the sector would be made public in the time to come.
