Gamuda Land will strongly inject more capital into Vietnam

Celadon City is one of the most impressive projects bearing the typical ecological signature of Gamuda Land

Among foreign investors in Vietnam’s real estate market, Gamuda Land is one of the most prominent names. It is the real estate development arm of Gamuda Berhad, the leading infrastructure and construction group in Malaysia and Southeast Asia, with a history of nearly half a century of developing large-scale transport infrastructure projects.

Three out of the four biggest highways of Malaysia were built by Gamuda Berhad, which constructed and is currently operating and maintaining 230km of highways and subways serving millions of people every day.

Around the world, Gamuda Berhad is present in many markets with highlighted projects, such as the Kaohsiung urban railway project in Taiwan, the Nam Theun 1 hydropower project in Laos, and the Dukhan highway venture in Qatar, among others.

Gamuda Berhad is one of the largest corporations listed on the Malaysian Stock Exchange today, with a market capitalisation of $1.85 billion. The total asset value of the group by the end of 2020 had reached $4.5 billion.

Gamuda Berhad is one of the leading infrastructure and construction groups in Southeast Asia

In 1995, Gamuda Berhad joined the residential real estate market by establishing Gamuda Land. It has a footprint in Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, and Vietnam with 12 townships and nine integrated high-rise projects with a gross development value of over $5.5 billion as of July this year. At present, the total land fund of the Malaysian real estate giant has reached over 2,100 hectares.

The townships and complexes developed by Gamuda Land have created a great impression, become the stereotype of a new lifestyle, and even played the role of positioning and leading the market.

Major projects in key markets include Gamuda Cove, TwentyFive.7, and Gamuda Gardens in Malaysia, Olá in Singapore, 661 Chapel St. in Australia, and Celadon City and Gamuda City in Vietnam.

With many outstanding large-scale ecological projects, Gamuda Land is known as the leading green town-maker. For instance, in Vietnam, Gamuda Land is currently recognised as one of the top five foreign real estate developers in the market. This foreign investor is a familiar face with prestigious local and international real estate awards.

Gamuda Land was honoured as Best Lifestyle Developer at the Vietnam Property Awards 2021, along with getting the Special Recognition for Sustainable Building award at Asia Property Awards 2020 and the World Silver Award in the Master Planning category for Celadon City at the FIABCI World Prix d’Excellence 2019.

Vietnam is Gamuda Land’s second-largest market after Malaysia. In 2020 alone, revenues in Vietnam reached around $206 million through Gamuda Land, accounting for 83 per cent of the group’s total overseas revenue. This can be considered sweet fruit for its business development strategy, coupled with the sustainable development of the Malaysian town-maker.

More than a decade ago, upon arriving in our country, Gamuda Land in turn poured VND8.6 trillion ($373.9 million) into Gamuda City in Hanoi and VND3.6 trillion ($156.5 million) into Celadon City in Ho Chi Minh City. This was a large amount of capital while they just started exploring the market.

After more than 10 years of project implementation, the current prices of land and apartments in Gamuda City and the Yen So-Hoang Mai area, in general, have increased five-fold compared to 2007. The same story has happened in Celadon City. At the beginning of 2010, the asking price of apartments there ranged from around $650-1,000, but now a new price base has been established from $1,700-3,250.

Although the current price has increased three times, the absorption rate has always reached 100 per cent for each precinct launch.

Gamuda Land’s journey to strengthen its position as the leading town-maker does not stop there.

Talking with VIR, Angus Liew, general director of Gamuda Land in Ho Chi Minh City, strongly reaffirmed the long-term business plan in Vietnam. He said that Gamuda Land’s headquarters has approved long-term investment plans in Vietnam and has been ready to spend a large amount of capital to acquire new land funds in many ways, including mergers and acquisitions, transfers, and bidding.

“As a town-maker, our biggest intention is still to attain a large land fund to be able to implement our innovative master-planning concept. However, we are also interested in diversifying our product portfolio in Vietnam. Perhaps, in the near future, we may launch impressive complex projects bearing the signature of Gamuda Land,” Liew said.