Any analyst worth their salt will be able to point to Vietnam as being one of the booming property hotspots of the world and indeed many people interested in overseas investment have been looking to countries like Vietnam for investment as an alternative to the Middle East, China or India.
However, in what is perhaps the most feel good story ever reported in the property news, a Vietnamese refugee that has lived in Australia ever since the age of three will be leading the Australian charge into the property markets of his country of birth.
Ever since his arrival in Australia, Lawrence Nguyen has been successful at almost everything he's done. School and work have made him into a successful businessman in the pharmacy industry and now Nguyen is attempting to bring international attention to bear squarely on Vietnam with his new Australian-based company Vietnam Emerging Capital Limited.
Through this company, Nguyen is hoping to raise capital of $12.5 million through $0.25 shares in a public offering that he will then turn around and put squarely into the Vietnamese property market through investing in property firms that are state-owned as stakes in them are put up for auction.
Part of the government's plan in growing Vietnam's economy has been to privatise some companies and consolidate others and the government has succeeded in growing the overall economy at around seven per cent a year with the property market achieving growth significantly in advance of that. This is primarily why Nguyen is interested in having the new company invest directly in property projects that are undertaken in Vietnam, although the company is also interested in investing in other avenues of income as well.
Nguyen has been back to Vietnam on a fairly frequent basis and has been talking very much about the opportunity he sees in the country in general and in the property market specifically. While he wants the company to be successful primarily, speculation has taken place that the timing of his announcement was such that it would be picked up by the media and therefore bring international attention onto the Vietnamese property market.
Whether or not that speculation is true, the Vietnamese property market will certainly benefit from the publicity as well as the $12.5 million injection it will receive shortly from the Australian company.
