More Japanese investing in Vietnam’s property market Singaporean, South Korean and Taiwanese investors have been the traditional investors in the property sector, but more Japanese companies have been pouring money into projects recently.   In early October, a shareholders’ meeting in Nam Bay Bay approved regulations to fulfill the commitments it made with the Japanese partner, Creed Group. Prior to that, Nam Bay Bay announced a program with the Creed Group under which both will pour investment capital in Nam Bay Bay’s projects and share profits from the projects. Creed Group has committed to inject VND600 billion into the projects by buying convertible bonds issued by Nam Bay Bay. Besides the City Gate Towers, Creed Group has undertaken to develop two other projects – NBB Garden III in district 8 and NBB Garden II in Binh Chanh district. The Japanese investor is contributing 50 percent of the total investment capital to every project. The NBB Garden III is projected to have the investment capital of VND3.8 trillion. Creed Group, established in 1996 in Japan, is a real estate investor and developer, which manages $5 billion worth of assets worldwide. Analysts noted that more Japanese investors are looking at the real estate market, though it has experienced difficult days due to low demand. In the past, Singaporean, South Korean and Taiwanese arrived years ago, but more Japanese names have appeared in the last three years in deals worth billions of dollars. Many years ago, when Singaporean, South Korean and Taiwanese real estate developers flocked to Vietnam, Japanese were indifferent to the market. However, real estate consultancy firms like CBRE Vietnam, Savills Vietnam and Cushman & Wakefield have noted that Japanese investors were interested in the Vietnamese market. Two months before the news about the Creed Group’s investment deal in Nam Bay Bay was released, Nikkei Inc reported that Daibiru, a Japanese real estate group, wrapped up a deal to buy a CornerStone building at $61 million. CornerStore is an A-class building situated at No 16 Phan Chu Trinh Street in Hoan Kiem District, the central area of Hanoi. The project is developed by VIB-NGT, a joint venture between VIB Bank and Ngo Gia Tu Mechanical Engineering Company. This is not the first investment deal of Daibiru in Vietnam. In 2012, Daibiru bought a big amount of shares of the company owning Saigon Tower at No 29 Le Duan Street in district 1, HCM City. The seller was an investment fund of Chinese Chiaphua Group. The value of the deal remains secret. Timothy Horton, CEO of Cushman & Wakefield Vietnam, noted that at this moment, the finance investors’ biggest interest is in operational assets with a stable cash flow, while Japanese investors have shown more interest than others.  Kim Chi, VietNamNet Bridge