Reflections on Sunshine Group’s Challenges, Recovery, and Breakthroughs in 2024

As the old year comes to a close and the new year brings new destinies and opportunities, we had a conversation with Mr. Do Anh Tuan – Chairman of Sunshine Group, to hear him share about the fierce challenges of the past year and the plans for recovery and breakthroughs in 2024.

“Sir, the difficulties in 2023 caused many large projects to stop construction. How is Sunshine Group doing?”

The difficulties affected the entire real estate market, and every business was not spared. However, despite the challenges, Sunshine’s projects continued to progress. Three projects, Sunshine Capital Tay Thang Long (Bac Tu Liem), Sunshine Diamond River (District 7, Ho Chi Minh City), and Sunshine Golden River (Nam Thang Long Urban Area), have been completed and supplied thousands of high-end apartments, shophouses, and villas to the market. In addition, the high-end apartment project Sunshine Green Iconic (East Hanoi) has reached its roof, and two other projects in Ho Chi Minh City are being expedited.

By continuing to develop projects day and night, while other real estate businesses were still in the preparation stage, we were able to get ahead and wait for the “eastern wind.”

“With stacking difficulties, many businesses had to cancel bonuses and delay salaries. Did Sunshine Group face the same situation?”

I believe that a crisis is not a time to cut back but to spend more wisely, restructure for greater efficiency. In 2023, employees of Sunshine Group were not owed salaries and received Tet bonuses at the end of the year.

“In the midst of having to pay off investors while continuing project developments, how did Sunshine Group manage?”

Every large corporation in the world has experienced setbacks. When the whole market is difficult, each business is like a house in the flood. At that time, we cannot rely on anyone but ourselves. The difficulties are opportunities for us to grow, to reassess ourselves, and most importantly, to create value in our industry.

Sunshine Group is one of the largest corporations implementing large-scale apartment and housing projects in Vietnam. As a company with a solid foundation and internal capabilities, our projects have continued construction from the north to the south. Furthermore, in 2023, we expanded our land bank and conducted M&A activities for projects with clean legal documents. Our strategy is to achieve a minimum annual growth of 30% in the number of products, as only with rapid deployment can we expect significant returns for investors.

In retrospect, 2023 had its risks, but it was also an opportunity. Despite the general difficulties in the market, most of Sunshine Group’s projects are located in prime areas in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. These are high-end apartments built and delivered at a time of strong demand, ensuring good market response and liquidity.

Sunshine is only slightly affected by the overall market situation and is not in an economic crisis. Therefore, we will come back stronger with the Vietnamese economy in 2024.

“After going through the difficulties of the market, what is Sunshine Group’s new strategy for 2024?”

Real estate has been constantly changing in recent times. Five years ago, many large corporations headed towards the coast and invested in real estate developments in remote provinces, primarily serving investors. Sunshine Group, on the other hand, has persistently developed apartment projects for end-users in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

When the market encounters difficulties, it is the opportune time for products that bring real value to end-users. While many businesses are restructuring their products, Sunshine Group already had thousands of apartments available in the market. In the next year, when the Land Law takes effect and land prices are no longer regulated, land clearance and compensation will be challenging, making low-rise projects scarce. Looking ahead, in 2024, Sunshine Group will focus on developing a series of low-rise projects in Hanoi.

“Could you share specific details about the projects that Sunshine Group will launch in 2024?”

This year, we will launch five major projects with a total investment of tens of trillions of Vietnamese dong, ready to supply the market with 5,000 high-end apartments and 5,000 villas, townhouses, and shophouses.

Notably, the large-scale complexes, Sunshine Sky City (9 towers) and Sunshine Diamond River (12 towers), in Ho Chi Minh City, will be launched. In the hottest real estate area in Hanoi, the Diplomatic Corps Area – Tay Ho Tay (Hanoi), we will simultaneously introduce two Sunshine Wonder complexes (~2,000 apartments) and Sunshine Crystal River (5 towers, 40 floors each).

In addition to having a large inventory of high-rise products, in 2024, Sunshine Group will focus on the low-rise segment with over 3,000 villas and shophouses along the Ho Tay – Ba Vi axis in three major projects: Sunshine Royal Capital (Tay Ho Tay), Sunshine Heritage Hanoi (Phu Tho), and Sunshine Grand Capital (Dan Phuong).

Committed to the philosophy of developing products that provide real value to end-users, Sunshine understands that to contribute to job creation for hundreds of thousands of people, with hundreds of trillions in investment and a contribution to GDP, the only way is to produce real estate to bring real value.

“Although there are many projects, liquidity is still a concern in 2024. Are you confident in Sunshine Group’s real estate products?”

Sunshine Group’s project development orientation is quite different from most other companies. Instead of taking years to beg for projects, Sunshine’s strategy is to acquire projects with clean legal documents through mergers and acquisitions. We do not acquire projects on state-owned land or participate in bidding, but rather buy and restructure projects that are slow in development from private businesses inside and outside the country.

Basically, all of Sunshine Group’s real estate products, whether they are currently under development in 2023 or projects to be launched in 2024, have completed over 90% of the legal procedures. This is an advantage for us as we have a good foundation to focus on construction and sales.

In 2023, amid the market difficulties, Sunshine Homes achieved a pre-tax profit of over 1,500 billion Vietnamese dong, which further confirms the success of products targeting end-users. Therefore, we are not concerned about liquidity. In 2024, Sunshine Group has gathered all the necessary elements and is only waiting for the market to warm up before releasing the products.

“The real estate market hit bottom in 2023. Do you have any predictions for the real estate trends in 2024?”

The government has never made as much effort and issued as many documents and resolutions to alleviate difficulties in the real estate market as in 2023. After the efforts of the government and related agencies, bright signals began to appear clearly in the real estate market by the end of 2023. Liquidity has returned, and new supply has started to come onto the market. I believe that 2024 will be a year of upward movement following the natural law of real estate.

Furthermore, the government has made great efforts to clean up the real estate market through the Land Law, Housing Law, and Real Estate Business Law. With strict regulations from these three new laws, the real estate market in the near future will no longer be for amateur businesses but for professional real estate developers.

In 2024, interest rates are likely to remain at their lowest level in history. Cheap funds pumped into the market will find opportunities in real estate. This is the time when real estate recovers after a long downturn.

“Real estate is picking up, but what about the bond situation?”

After major upheavals in the economy in general, bonds have been the most significant issue for most real estate businesses in the past year. The Sunshine bond story might not be fully understood by many people due to various information sources. However, Sunshine Group has gone through turbulent periods but, as of now, we have made every effort to repurchase nearly 90% of the total amount of bonds due. The group is currently making every effort to continue paying investors in 2024.

“How will Sunshine Group resolve the KSFinance issue in 2024?”

The stagnant real estate market during the 2021-2023 period affected the psychology of customers who wanted to buy real estate and cooperate through KSFinance – a strategic partner selling Sunshine Group’s real estate products. In that context, we have made efforts to partially repay customers who wanted to receive their money back and proposed conversion into apartments in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Sunshine Group has available real estate. If customers choose to take the property, we are ready to make the payment with the product. If customers choose money, we ask for time to sell the property. The total value of contracts converted into real estate has reached over 7,000 billion for more than 50% of investors. At the time of the Lunar New Year 2024, we have also disbursed billions of Vietnamese dong to investors who did not convert to owning real estate. Currently, the number of Sunshine Group apartments exceeds the remaining number of KSFinance customers who have not converted to real estate ownership. In fact, in the early months of 2023, many customers who chose to convert have benefited as the apartments have seen a significant increase in value.

“As the old year comes to a close and the new year approaches, during this transition, do you have anything to share?”

In the general difficulties of the economy, we are grateful to investors who understand, accompany, and wait for the company to overcome the most difficult period, restructure financial resources, promote investment, construction, and business activities to have a concentrated income to repay customers.

Currently, Sunshine Group is one of the few businesses that has available apartments in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City for customers who want to convert. As the Chairman of Sunshine Group, I am committed to making every effort to gradually pay investors in 2024.

2024 is the first year of a new cycle, also known as a new minor cycle. According to forecasts from feng shui experts, this will be a prosperous year following the natural laws. I, like the business community, always hope that this will be the year of recovery and growth, a year when the economy thrives. I wish the businesses that have survived the big storm will continue to grow even more sustainably. I wish the entrepreneurs a successful new year, firmly holding the helm, full sails for the big ship to sail, surpassing the waves and going far!

Thank you, and I wish you a successful Year of the Horse!