On the morning of March 15, the first-instance court of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court, in the trial of the violations at Van Thinh Phat Group, Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB), and related units, the panel had an inquiry with Ms. Truong My Lan (former Chairman of Van Thinh Phat Group) about the asset resolution to remedy the consequences in the case.
Earlier, in response to the panel, Ms. Lan said that one of her two daughters was selling a building in Hanoi, estimated to be worth 1 billion USD. Regarding this information, the presiding judge asked Ms. Lan if the building she mentioned was Capital Place, No. 29 Lieu Giai, Hanoi. Ms. Lan confirmed it was correct.
The presiding judge stated that this building was being mortgaged to four foreign companies for a loan of 230 million USD. According to information sent to the court by Ms. Lan’s daughter, Chu Duyet Phan, Capital Place 29 Lieu Giai is expected to be sold for around 360 million USD, not 1 billion USD as the defendant claimed.
“My friend bought it for 700 million USD in the past, plus the cost of completing the paperwork,” the defendant Lan explained why she said the building was worth 1 billion USD. “Selling to foreigners is more profitable, but they require verification not related to the case,” the defendant added.
According to research, Capital Place building at 29 P. Lieu Giai, Ngoc Khanh, Ba Dinh is a Grade A office building in the city center of Hanoi, with an actual rental area of 100,000 m2 consisting of two 37-story office towers. The building is home to multinational tenants such as HSBC Vietnam, Porsche, Standard Chartered Bank Vietnam, Shopee, etc.
Capital Place building was originally part of the Vinhomes Metropolis project, then transferred to Twin-Peaks Joint Stock Company, which is owned by Singapore’s Capitaland real estate group.
However, in early 2022, a new real estate brand emerged at that time, Viva Land, announced the acquisition of Capital Place for 751 million Singapore dollars (550 million USD), lower than the figure claimed by Ms. Lan in court. Viva Land was founded in 2020 and is based in Singapore.
Viva Land has been mentioned in connection with Van Thinh Phat. On the official website of Van Thinh Phat Group, there was also information that Viva Land is a partner. Van Thinh Phat’s website introduced: “Viva Land is a real estate management and development company.
According to our information, as of the end of April 2022, a discreet legal entity, Saigon Helios Joint Stock Company, owned 45% of Twin-Peaks Joint Stock Company.
Capital Place building.
Another property is the Daewoo hotel in Hanoi. The defendant Truong My Lan said this hotel belongs to Bong Sen Joint Stock Company, the company owned by her family. The company’s shares account for 70%. The daughter suggested that Ms. Lan sell the hotel, but she said there were issues with the shares.
“In the past, Bong Sen borrowed the hotel to issue project loans. It is difficult to recover the shares,” Ms. Lan said. However, the defendant Truong My Lan still proposed to the panel that if they could be recovered, they should be included in the resolution of the consequences of the case.
The Daewoo Hotel Complex in Hanoi and the Daeha office building, located at 360 Kim Ma, Ngoc Khanh, Ba Dinh, Hanoi, are located opposite Capital Place. This is one of the first international 5-star hotels in Hanoi and also a symbol of the capital’s development over the past two decades.
In 2015, Bong Sen Joint Stock Company spent about 3,650 billion VND to acquire 51% of Daeha’s capital – the company that owns this hotel and office complex, corresponding to the valuation of this complex of nearly 7,200 billion VND (320 million USD).
In addition, Bong Sen also owns a series of high-end restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City, including the Palace Saigon Hotel, Bong Sen Saigon Hotel, Bong Sen Annex Hotel, Lemongrass Restaurant, Buffet Ganh Restaurant, Lion Restaurant, Vegetarian Restaurant, etc.
Daewoo Complex project in Hanoi.
