Land fund founded

Luxury living: Indochina Capital’s five-star resort in Quang Nam province will feature 50 villas

Indochina Capital, a financial services and real estate development company, said they believed Vietnam offered attractive returns to real estate investors.
Rick Mayo-Smith, managing director of Indochina Capital, said the demand for residential apartments, office space, and high quality hotels and resorts with residential components was growing, but the supply remained limited.
“Amongst our objectives is to work with the government and other developers to satisfy the urgent need for housing across the range of low to high-income housing in Vietnam’s urban areas,” he said.
“The recurring GDP growth of over 7.5 per cent per annum will ensure that the demand for quality property in virtually every sector will continue to grow, creating many attractive opportunities for Indochina Land Holdings’ investment,” Smith added.
Foreign investors see Vietnam as a promising market for investment following a recent boom in the property market, which has seen residential, office and hotel projects spring up across the country.
Property consultants say the residential market in Vietnam is still in the early stages of development and showing signs of sustainability. Big players like LG and Daewon are moving forward with intensive investments.
Smith told local press that the fund, which would ideally disburse all capital within two to four years, would invest next month in two small projects, a resort in the central region and apartments in Ho Chi Minh City, with a combined budget of $5 million.
Indochina Capital is led by Peter Ryder and Rick Mayo-Smith, who have been investing in Vietnam for the past 12 years and who have developed and financed a number of successful real estate projects valued at over $250 million.
These projects include the Furama, Vietnam’s first five-star resort property located in Danang; the 63 Ly Thai To office building in Hanoi; and Saigon Center, a premier mixed-use property in Ho Chi Minh City.
Indochina Capital is currently building a five-star resort called The Nam Hai with a 60-room hotel and 50 villas in central Quang Nam province. The resort is managed by General Hotel Management and will open early next year.
Peter Ryder, who served as Salomon Brothers’ director of real estate in Tokyo and New York before moving to Vietnam in 1992, added, “The long-wave opportunity is apparent to us. Vietnam is one of the most dynamic economies in Asia with a rapidly expanding middle and upper middle class bent on improving their lifestyles, principally through the acquisition of quality residential accommodation.”
Indochina Capital is located in Hong Kong with representative offices in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and a project office in Hoi An. In addition to real estate investment and finance, the firm provides corporate finance, investment banking, market entry and asset management services to its clients.