Hines Opens First Vietnam Office in Ho Chi Minh City

US developer Hines on Monday announced the opening of its first office in Vietnam, marking the firm’s sixth country launch in Asia Pacific and 10th location region-wide.

The office in Ho Chi Minh City is the second in Southeast Asia for Houston-based Hines, which opened its Singapore branch in mid-2020. Newly hired director Anh Hao Le will lead the company’s operations in the country, sourcing acquisitions and development opportunities in coordination with Southeast Asia and Singapore head Kian Fong Lim, the firm said in a release.

Hines APAC CEO Ray Lawler described Vietnam as “an exciting strategic market” and a channel for strengthening the firm’s offering in the region.

“As we see strong demand for opportunities in Vietnam, we are very enthusiastic about the real estate market there and across the region, so are foreseeing continued long-term growth and new business opportunities across all our product categories,” Lawler said.

Saigon Track Record

Hines is understood to be establishing its Vietnam foothold as more investors look to the Southeast Asian nation and its rapidly growing economy for real estate opportunities. The company expects to find openings for industrial and office strategies in the country, as well as potentially in residential, all sectors where Hines is already active in other parts of Asia Pacific.

With 18 years of experience in real estate and development in Vietnam, Le joins Hines as its first Vietnam hire after serving as head of investment at Ho Chi Minh City-based Sunny World Investment and Development, where he oversaw and led land acquisitions and assets transactions for five years.

Le began his career at VinaCapital Real Estate before gaining experience at global property consultancy JLL and Hong Kong-based Gaw Capital Partners, where he led a $1.2 billion mixed-use development transaction in Ho Chi Minh City.

Le holds an Executive MBA from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, a Master of Commerce from Macquarie University and a Bachelor of Business from Vietnam’s National Economics University.

Lim said the time is right for Hines to take advantage of Vietnam’s strong manufacturing fundamentals and favourable demographics after the market saw strong interest from institutional capital in recent years.

“The new office will allow us to bring the best of Hines’ global expertise and resources to the market combined with the strong support from local insights and expertise from Le,” he said.

Planting Their Flag

Founded in 1957, Hines oversees investment assets under management valued at $90.3 billion. The privately owned firm operates in 28 countries, including China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Vietnam and Australia in Asia Pacific.

Hines is following closely in the footsteps of rival fund managers that have staked out a beachhead in fast-growing Vietnam.

In June, Warburg Pincus led a $250 million investment backing a pipeline of projects being developed by Ho Chi Minh City-based Novaland, cementing the Manhattan firm’s reputation as the largest private equity investor in the country.

Earlier that same month, Gaw Capital added a fifth country to its Asia data centre network with the acquisition of a Saigon site where the family-run firm plans to develop a server-hosting facility with an IT capacity of 20 megawatts.