Most transactions in the sector revolved around corporate restruc turing and the transfer of compo nent projects.
Among those are in residential development, the only deal related to foreign investor was the Diamond Realty Investment La Pura (Mit subishi Group, Japan) in February acquired the entire stake in Thien Long High-Rise Real Estate Invest ment and Development, the develop er of the Thuan An 1 project in Binh Duong with the initial payment value of approximately $73 million.
The rest of the deals belong to domestic investors. Everland An Giang in January acquired Sub-zone 7.1 of the Dai Phuoc Ecotourism Urban Area from DIC Corp for more than $18.8 million. Within the same venture, TNT Phu Hoa purchased sub-zones 1-3 in a deal valued at over $94.8 million.
Meanwhile, also in January, First Real approved a resolution to fully divest from Bach Dang Trading Ser vices Hotel through the transfer of 10 million shares, equivalent to 22.22 per cent of its charter capital.
With an expected minimum trans fer value of $11.5 million, First Real will exit the Bach Dang Complex, a luxury real estate complex located on a nearly 6,900sq.m site along the Han River in Danang city.
In the hotel sector, ASB HPL North Asia of Singapore spent $38 million to acquire the entire Hotel Perle D’Orient Cat Ba project from Truong Binh Minh.
Located on Cat Ba Island in Haiphong city, this is the rst inter national-standard 5-star hotel in the area and was previously operated under the upscale MGallery brand of Accor. The property compris es 11 storeys and over 120 luxury rooms. Construction began in 2017, with total investment across two phases exceeding $34.6 million, and the hotel commenced opera tions in 2020.
The other deal in the sector involved the Parkroyal Saigon hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, which was transferred to domestic buyer TCG Land, a company headquartered in Ninh Binh province and owned by Thanh Cong Group.
The transaction has been complet ed, and the hotel has been renamed Garden Plaza Saigon. The disclosed value of the deal was $15.7 million.
Both of those two transactions were announced in March and were part of a broader surge in Vietnam hotel investment activity, with prop erty consulting rm JLL forecasting the market to reach $200 million in transaction volume for 2026.
The third quarter of this year is expected to mark a more active phase for real estate M&A transac tions, driven by companies having accumulated suf cient resources, improved conditions for site inspec tions, and the acceleration of year end disbursement schedules.
According to Ta My Bach, direc tor of Capital Markets at JLL Viet nam, market sentiment also could receive an additional boost from the anticipated review of Vietnam’s stock market upgrade by FTSE Russell, expected in the third quarter this year.
To make progress in attracting foreign investment and promot ing the M&A market, three groups of legal challenges need to be addressed in a coordinated manner, Bach told VIR last week.
First is the lack of consistency in policy implementation across local ities, which has led to a situation where “the same law is interpreted differently”, particularly creating dif culties for logistics projects that span multiple provinces.
Second is the effectiveness of administrative procedures and the level of transparency. Many promis ing projects continue to face delays due to the need to wait for guiding documents or because of insuf cient coordination among authori ties responsible for land, planning, environmental management, and transport. The adoption of an elec tronic one-stop-shop mechanism with clear commitments on pro cessing timelines could signi cant ly improve progress.
“Finally, there is a need to fur ther re ne the legal framework for M&As, including regulations gov erning capital transfers, land-use rights in joint ventures, and dispute resolution mechanisms. Simplifying procedures and shortening approval timelines would help facilitate large scale transactions,” Bach said.
Although no standout transac tions were recorded in the industri al real estate sector during the first two months of the year, the segment is expected to continue expanding strongly in the coming period.
David Jackson, CEO of Avison Young Vietnam, noted that indus trial real estate investors typically enter the market through both direct and indirect investment. Under the direct model, investors lease land from the state or acquire land-use rights to develop new industrial park infrastructure.
“They may form joint ventures with local partners to leverage advantages in capital, legal proce dures, and project execution. Nota ble investors include Amata, Viet nam-Singapore Industrial Parks, Sumitomo Corporation, and DEEP C in Haiphong,” Jackson explained.
A report from JLL Vietnam stat ed that in the logistics segment, due diligence standards are even more stringent, particularly regarding professional operational capaci ty, third-party logistics experience, understanding of global supply chains, and the ability to attract and retain high-quality tenants. Metrics such as occupancy rates, leasing timelines, and tenant quality are con sidered key evaluation criteria.
Partnership models are also shift ing from outright acquisitions to joint ventures with milestone-based pay ment mechanisms to distribute risks. Corporate governance and nancial transparency are being prioritised, with expectations for compliance with international standards such as IFRS and the establishment of inde pendent oversight mechanisms.
The report expects that looking over the next ve years, the market is expected to continue competing based on product and service quality.
“M&A will likely maintain a pos itive role in portfolio restructuring and improving supply quality, while industrial land rents are forecast to grow by 5-6 per cent annually over the next ve years. With a stable mac roeconomic foundation, improving connectivity infrastructure, and sus tained investment, logistics is posi tioned as one of the core segments of Vietnam’s industrial real estate sector in the coming years,” it said.
M&As in real estate on a strong footing
