Purchasing 2.3 trillion VND of bonds before maturity in 15 months
On January 24, 2024, Voyage Investment Corporation announced that it had repurchased all of the bond series VAICB2125001 worth 2.3 trillion VND. According to information from HNX, VAICB2125001 has an interest rate of 10.5% per year. The depositary institution is Kỹ thương Securities Joint Stock Company (TCBS). The bond was issued on April 15, 2021, with a maturity period of 48 months until April 15, 2025. Therefore, Voyage repurchased the bonds 15 months earlier than the maturity date, eliminating the bond debt.
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Returning to Voyage, at the end of 2022, the company had a charter capital of nearly 500 billion VND. The 2.3 quadrillion VND debt is equal to the amount of bonds issued.
Business conditions were unfavorable as Voyage incurred a loss of nearly 108 billion VND in 2022, while earning over 400 million VND in the same period. The return on equity (ROE) decreased from 0.08% to -0.02%.
Voyage was established on October 3, 2017; headquartered at 74 Huỳnh Tấn Phát, Tân Thuận Tây Ward, District 7, Ho Chi Minh City. Its main business activity is in real estate. The charter capital has remained unchanged at 500 billion VND since its establishment, with three founding shareholders including Ms. Trần Tú Phương (General Director and Legal Representative) owning 40%, Ms. Võ Thị Như Phước and Mr. Lư Kim Nguyên each owning 30%.
On June 23, 2020, the company moved its headquarters to the 14th floor, Golden King Building, 15 Nguyễn Lương Bằng Street, District 7, Ho Chi Minh City.
Cash flow of trillion VND bonds returning to the “golden land” project in District 1
At the time of issuing bonds on April 15, 2021, Voyage stated that the purpose of issuing bonds was to raise capital for a deposit to transfer the entire commercial service area of the complex project at 87 Cống Quỳnh Street, Nguyễn Cư Trinh Ward, District 1. The project covers a total area of nearly 8,321 m2 and is invested by Golden Hill Investment Corporation (Golden Hill Invest).
The collateral includes shares of shareholders in Golden Hill; assets related to the 87 Cống Quỳnh complex belonging to Golden Hill and Voyage; additional and/or replacement assets (if necessary) owned by Voyage and/or third parties.
Also on April 15, the investor Golden Hill Invest issued the bond series GHICB2124001 worth 5.76 trillion VND. The proceeds were used to partially pay the obligations to partners and related to dissolving investment cooperation contracts with the total outstanding principal of 8.054 trillion VND.
It is worth noting that the 8.054 trillion VND is almost equivalent to the total value of the two batches of bonds of Voyage and Golden Hill Invest. Furthermore, the collateral also relates to the complex at 87 Cống Quỳnh.
 Rendering of the complex project at 87 Cống Quỳnh
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Who is Golden Hill Invest?
Golden Hill Investment Corporation was established on January 17, 2017, headquartered at 08 Nguyễn Huệ, Bến Nghé Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. Its main business activity is in real estate; investment in infrastructure of industrial zones, residential areas; leasing of factories and warehouses.
The initial charter capital was 100 billion VND, with three founding shareholders including Mr. Bùi Đức Dũng owning 40%, Mr. Tất Thành Chí and Mr. Lương Minh Hán each owning 30%. The Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Legal Representative is Mr. Nguyễn Văn Thủy.
Three months later, in April 2017, Golden Hill Invest merged with Ngân Bình Construction Investment Co., Ltd – the original investor of the 87 Cống Quỳnh complex. Golden Hill Invest increased its charter capital to 2.798 trillion VND with a completely new shareholder structure. The new shareholders are all foreign organizations with the same address in the “tax haven” British Virgin Islands, including Golden Hill Investment Company Limited owning 40.03%, Ford Master International Limied owning 30.02%, and Quality Plus Development Limited owning 29.95%. At this time, the position of General Director and Legal Representative belonged to Mr. Ngô Văn An.
From 2019 – 2021, Golden Hill Invest had constant changes in its leadership. The position of the Legal Representative changed continuously, belonging successively to Mr. Chan Min Simon, Mr. Li Yibin, Mr. Chiu Bing Keung Kenneth (all of Chinese nationality), and Mr. Truong Vincent Kinh (of American nationality).
Notably, most of these individuals are related to Alpha King, a Hong Kong-based real estate giant. Among them, Mr. Chiu Bing Keung Kenneth represents Alpha King Real Estate Development Joint Stock Company.
In July 2018, Alpha Corporation entered the Vietnamese market by simultaneously introducing three luxury real estate projects in prime locations in District 1, including The Centennial Saigon (2 Tôn Đức Thắng Street), Alpha Town (289 Trần Hưng Đạo Street), and Alpha City (87 Cống Quỳnh Street). The projects caused a stir in the market with prices up to 12,000 USD/m2. However, after more than 2 years, all of Alpha King’s projects faced difficulties.
The fate of the “golden land” plots in the hands of Alpha King
Returning to Golden Hill Invest, in April 2021, the company started to stabilize with Mr. Nguyễn Thanh Bình as Chairman of the Board of Directors and Ms. Trần Thị Bích Phương as General Director.
Specifically, Mr. Nguyễn Thanh Bình is also a founding shareholder owning 1% of the charter capital in Masteri Investment Corporation – a member of Masterise Group. This has sparked speculation that Alpha King has officially withdrawn from Alpha City after years of stalled projects and transferred it to Masterise Group.
In addition to the leadership changes, Golden Hill Invest also drew attention as the second company with the highest tax debts in the 2/2023 period, according to the list of Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department. Specifically, as of October 31, 2023, Golden Hill Invest owed over 1.289 trillion VND in taxes.
Big question marks for the fate of the “golden land” project at 87 Cống Quỳnh
The 87 Cống Quỳnh complex was initially named Ngân Bình Golden Hill Complex with a scale of two 35-storey towers and 444 apartments developed by Ngân Bình Investment and Construction Co., Ltd as the investor. The project was started in 2010.
In 2012, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction announced a new plan, increasing the number of apartments to 499.
In early 2017, Ngân Bình merged with Golden Hill Invest. Accordingly, the development rights of the project were transferred to Alpha King. The project was widely promoted under the trade name Alpha Hill (part of the Alpha City project).
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Alpha City includes the Alpha Town office building with 35 floors and the twin towers with 49 floors, of which 40 floors are high-end apartments (Alpha Hill) and 8 floors are the Alpha Mall commercial center. At the time of launch, the project was offered for sale at 8,000 – 9,500 USD/m2, making it one of the most expensive projects in District 1. |
In 2020, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee approved the investment policy and recognized Golden Hill as the investor of the project, as well as announced the new planning objective with functions including commercial services, offices, and hotels. The building has 49 floors, reaching a maximum height of 195m.
However, at the current time, according to observations, the project has shown no signs of construction. Outside, along Cống Quỳnh and Nguyễn Cư Trinh streets, the project is enclosed with sheets, and trees grow both inside and outside the fence.
Most of the advertising billboards and project information are outdated, faded, or even removed, making the scenery more desolate.
87 Cống Quỳnh complex is located at a location with two facades on Cống Quỳnh and Nguyễn Cư Trinh streets. Photo: Google map
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2023 – Picture taken by Huy Khải |
2024 – Picture taken by Huy Khải
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Traffic junction of Cống Quỳnh and Nguyễn Cư Trinh streets in the project – Photo by Huy Khải |
After a long period of stagnation and change of ownership, the project remains closed, and even the most basic information such as the investor, project name, and contractor is missing.
