HCMC - BCI Asia, a construction media group in Australia, picked 10 most active architecture firms and property developers in Vietnam for the annual BCI Asia Top 10 Awards held in HCMC last Friday.
Vietnam’s top 10 architecture, property firms recognized
By Dinh Dung - The Saigon Times Daily
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| An artist’s impression of The Estella condo project devel- oped by Keppel Land Vietnam in HCMC’s District 2. Kep- pel Land Vietnam is one of the companies that won The BCI Asia Top 10 Awards 2012 in the developers category - Photo: Courtesy of BCI |
HCMC - BCI Asia, a construction media group in Australia, picked 10 most active architecture firms and property developers in Vietnam for the annual BCI Asia Top 10 Awards held in HCMC last Friday.
The eighth award recognized developers and architecture firms building and designing the greatest volume of buildings in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
In the architecture category, The BCI Asia Top 10 Awards 2012 went to companies such as Aedas Vietnam, DA Urban Architecture, DP Consulting, dwp design worldwide partnership, HTT Architect & Associates, and RSP Architects Planners & Engineers (Vietnam).
In the developers category, CapitaLand (Vietnam), Duc Khai, Keppel Land Vietnam, Sai Gon Thuong Tin Real Estate JSC (Sacomreal) and VinaCapital are among the awarded companies.
The portfolios of these elite architecture firms include US$6.8 billion worth of properties scheduled to start construction in Vietnam this year while the portfolios of these top developers contain US$3.3 billion.
The awards are bestowed to firms that will shape the built environment of tomorrow, enabling the market to better understand the important roles these firms play and their impact, both socially and on the environment.
Matthias Krups, chairman of BCI Asia, said innovation for designs and long-term solutions for sustainability were seen in examples of projects by this year’s Top 10 Award winners.
He said the fact that buildings are responsible for as much as one third of global greenhouse gas emissions and 40% of global energy used. Sustainable development is starting to be recognized stronger by the market players around the world. This trend is witnessed in Asia as well.
Vietnam gains high farm export sales
HCMC - The nation has this month earned an estimated US$2.3 billion in agro-aqua-forestry products exports, taking the total in the first five months to nearly US$10.9 billion, up by 10.1% year-on-year, the Government said on its website (chinhphu.vn).
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, except for rice and rubber that are slightly down in export volume and value, other agro-products have seen a pickup in demand of foreign buyers.
Farm produce exports in the year to date have fetched US$6.1 billion, a year-on-year rise of 2%. For instance, the volume of rice export in January-May has reached around three million tons worth US$1.4 billion with the average export price of US$470 a ton.
Rice export markets have changed considerably, with China emerging as the biggest buyer. The volume shipped to China has surged by 4.4 times in volume and around four times in value versus the same period last year.
Local exporters have been trying to seek new importers to replace the present traditional markets. Africa, including Ivory Coast, Ghana and Senegal, has become a key consumer of the country’s low-grade rice.
Coffee exporters over the past five months have shipped 860,000 tons worth roughly US$1.8 billion, a pickup of 7.8% in volume and 3% in value compared to the year-ago period. Germany and the U.S., Vietnam’s two biggest coffee markets accounting for 13.9% and 12.8% of the country’s total export volume respectively, have increased imports from Vietnam.
Meanwhile, rubber consumption by big foreign buyers has remained strong, with shipments to China adding 16.8% in January-May, Malaysia with a three-time rise and Taiwan with a surge of 61%. However, rubber prices have dipped to a five-month low, thus affecting the nation’s export value.
Over the past five months, the country has exported 317,000 tons of rubber valued at US$952 million, up by 35.2% in volume but down by 7.2% in value. The average export price stands at US$3,000 a ton, dipping by US$1,365 year-on-year.
Exports of other products such as tea, pepper and cashew have remained stable.
Even though exporting seafood to European countries is facing many difficulties, exporters this month have brought home US$500 million, raising the total in the year to date to US$2.3 billion, up 9.8% year-on-year.
Sacombank board reshuffled
By Thanh Thuong - The Saigon Times Daily
HCMC – Shareholders of Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Bank, or Sacombank, during the general meeting last Saturday approved the resignations by five board members in a major leadership shakeup.
Two former Sacombank board members, Dang Van Thanh and Dang Hong Anh, still sit on the new board.
Eight new members were elected, with four coming from Southern Commercial Bank, one from ACB Securities Company, one from Viet Dragon Securities Corporation, one from Vietnam Export-Import Commercial Bank (Eximbank) and the general director of Sacombank.
Speaking to local media on the sidelines of the meeting, Sacombank chairman Dang Van Thanh said a listed bank should welcome new shareholders on the board and that happened when ANZ, IFC and Dragon Capital bought into the bank previously. Eximbank chairman Le Hung Dung, who represents a group of large shareholders, said the new board would maintain a good administration and promote the achievements gained by the bank at the helm of Dang Van Thanh.
Sacombank is doing good business with established facilities, and a network of 412 transaction points in the nation’s 63 provinces and cities. It has over 10,000 well-trained staff, 70,000 shareholders and several million clients.
Regarding the loss of Sacombank Securities Co. (SBS), Dung said an initial inspection had been launched and that market volatility was the main cause of the loss. Dung noted there would be solutions to shake up SBS, including a comprehensive audit of the stock brokerage and the selection of Eximbank’s head of internal audit department and other officers for SBS to restructure the securities firm.
A board member told the Daily on the sidelines that the group of large shareholders holds over 60% in Sacombank. Therefore, Dang Van Thanh will serve as Sacombank chairman for three more months before the bank holds an election to choose a new chairman.
Some shareholders asked if Sacombank and Southern Bank would merge as many leaders of Southern Bank are on Sacombank’s board. Answering the question, Dung said mergers and acquisitions (M&A) had become a trend in the banking system. However, an M&A deal must secure approval from shareholders, he said, and now there is no merger plan yet.
The meeting also approved other issues like profit distribution, M&A policy, transfer of a 15% stake to foreign shareholders and issuance of bonds worth US$200 million on the Singapore Exchange in the third quarter of this year.