Indochina Kajima invest $450 million to take on supply chain shift from China

Indochina Kajima Development Company, a joint venture from Indochina Capital and Kajima Corporation, has launched Core5 Vietnam – an industrial real estate investment and development platform focused on the nationwide roll out of world class factory and warehouse properties for lease throughout the country’s key manufacturing and logistics markets.

Owned by Kajima Corporation, Core5 Industrial Partners is a US-based industrial real estate property company with expertise in development of Class-A properties featuring the latest innovations throughout the United States, with tenants including Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot, Duracell, UPS, DSV, American Standard and Toshiba are some tenants of Core5 Industrial Partners.

Keisuke Koshijima, representative director and executive vice president of Kajima Corporation said the established manufacturing industry combined with the rapidly growing e-commerce sector create favorable market conditions for the expansion of the Core5 brand into Vietnam.

He said the country’s manufacturing and logistics sector is burgeoning given the supply chain shift from China which has led to several prominent manufacturers relocating to Vietnam.

“This was highlighted by Apple’s recent shift of iPad capacity to Vietnam, a trend we expect to continue for other electronic giants” he added.

The launch of Core5 Vietnam marks the first industrial venture from Indochina Capital, one of Vietnam’s leading real estate development and investment firms. Peter Ryder, Indochina Capital’s CEO, said the companyhas been operating in Vietnam for over two decades, and has developed iconic and pioneering projects across Vietnam, such as Four Seasons Nam Hai, Six Senses Con Dao, Hyatt Regency Danang, Indochina Plaza Hanoi, and the Wink Hotels brand.

“With the same commitment to innovation, sustainability, and value creation we have applied to our past projects, Core5 Vietnam plans to roll out a collection of exceptional industrial assets across Vietnam’s key manufacturing markets. Our belief in the market opportunity presented by the industrial sector in underpinned by our long-term vision to invest $1 billion into this sector over the next 5-7 years,” he said.

Core5 Vietnam offers its valued partners a range of solutions including ready-built factory for lease, ready-built warehouse for lease and build-to-suit industrial properties. Key services include development and construction consultation from project managers, facility management advice from operation professionals, and licensing support to ensure timely business setup so manufacturing activities or logistics companies can launch their businesses quickly.

The firm’s current portfolio covers 90ha of land including seven projects in the north and one project in the south. At construction completion, these assets will comprise a total net leasable area of approximately 700,000 square metres and will amount to total investment cost of nearly $450 million.

Core5 Vietnam’s first project in Vietnam, located in a prime location within Deep C Hai Phong 2, will offer nearly 90,000 square metres of net leasable area to the market. Construction of this project will commence in July 2022 and handover of the first factories will be in early 2023. Others will be built in the provinces of Vinh Phuc, Hung Yen and Hai Duong while the location in the south has not been revealed.

Paul Tonkes, industrial deputy director of Indochina Kajima, said the company is focusing in the north due to its familiar relationships with this region while land rents are lower than in the south.

“Given the challenges presented by the local licensing framework, we will offer our partners a range of solutions including pre-licensing, licensing, and post-licensing services to ensure the efficient and smooth set up of our partners business activities. This is all done with the objective of establishing long-term and meaningful relationships with our clients”, he said.

In addition to industrial properties, Indochina Kajima Development is develop a string of Wink hotels in Vietnam, with the first hotel opened more than a year ago in Ho Chi Minh City while six others are under construction.