Logistics market sees rash of acquisitions, foreign investors keen

"Some of the world’s most renowned logistics developers and manufacturers are committing to Vietnam, demonstrating their belief in the country’s long-term potential despite the current difficulties posed by the pandemic," John Campbell, manager of industrial services at real estate consultancy Savills Vietnam, said in a recent note.

Logos Property of Australia entered the market in August with a $350-million logistics development joint venture and plans to build facilities in Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and Hanoi.

Asia’s largest warehouse developer GLP is planning to tie up with Vietnam’s SEA Logistic Partners in a $1.5-billion venture to establish assets in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. It will mark GLP’s entry into Southeast Asia.

South Korea’s Mirae Asset Daewoo Co. and Naver Corporation have invested $37 million in a warehouse in the LogisValley logistics hub in the northern Bac Ninh Province.

Apple supplier and electronics giant, Taiwan’s Pegatron, has invested over $19 million in the northern port city of Hai Phong in the first phase of its Vietnam expansion plans.

Taiwanese electronics producer Wistron Corporation invested $237 million in the northern Ha Nam Province in the third quarter.

The Savills note said industrial park occupancy in the country is at 76 percent now, showing a clear need for more supply in key industrial hubs such as Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Long An in the south and Bac Ninh, Hung Yen and Hai Phong in the north, especially with an expected influx of manufacturers moving out of China in 2021 and 2022.

Dong Nai has plans for eight new industrial zones, two of them a mammoth 900 hectares each.

Savills forecast the last quarter would see tenants trying to finalize discussions and memorandums of understanding to get favorable prices amid the pandemic when landlords are still flexible and willing to negotiate.

Should regular international flights resume by the first half of next year, factory, warehouse and land lease rates would likely increase, it added.

There are 279 industrial parks that employ around 3.83 million workers, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, and another 87 are under construction.