Tell us about An Phat Holdings and your venture in Industrial Real Estate?
Through our roots in manufacturing and experience building and operating 15 factories for our own use, we have acquired a deep understanding of the needs of the target clients of an industrial park. Over the years, we have also developed a comprehensive business ecosystem that we can leverage to support our tenants. Hence, the industrial real estate sector is a natural area of expansion for us. We are proud of our track record in successfully developing and selling two industrial parks and developing and operating an industrial park for our own use.
We developed and sold the
An Phat 1 Industrial Park, in a joint-venture with Actis
What attracted you to a joint venture with Actis to develop the An Phat 1 Industrial Park?
Firstly, I was aware of Actis’ track record of attracting the best operating partners and teams. I was impressed by their strong emphasis on strategic alignment with operating partners, and willingness to go above and beyond just economic interests. This is similar to our approach in forming strategic partnerships.
Secondly, Actis has a very experienced team, who are active and hands-on in managing the project alongside our team. The team brings great sector expertise and insights to the joint strategic decisions for the project.
Thirdly, Actis brings an excellent combination of global perspective, from working across so many countries, and a deep understanding of the market norms and practices in Vietnam. This has allowed us to make nimble decisions to capture market opportunities.
How do you see the 'One Actis' model adding value?
As we work closely with the Actis Real Estate team, we see synergies enabled by the One Actis approach. Actis is active in the renewable energy sector in Vietnam, through its platform Levanta Renewables. We expect that Actis will be able to make future developments more sustainable through supplying renewable energy via a Direct Power Purchase Agreement.
Actis also has an extensive network in countries where many of our target clients are located including China, Korea and Japan. And as a result, we have been able to work with Actis in leveraging that international network to tap the inbound customer flow.
- Actis Perspective
Critical to the success of the An Phat 1 Industrial Park were our operating partner and occupiers, who were attracted to Actis by the strategic value we brought in both real estate and renewable energy.
Vietnam is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the China Plus One strategy thanks to its durable advantages including geographical proximity to China, access to more than 52 export markets via Free Trade Agreements, availability of appropriately skilled workforce at reasonable cost, and a stable political environment with strong support for international investors. Vietnam has outperformed its peers in terms of FDI attraction, and manufacturing has been the biggest winning sector.
Actis has a focused strategy to invest in projects well-positioned to benefit from the deep demand for industrial and logistics real estate, including ready built factories / warehouses for lease, and industrial parks for sale in Tier-1 industrial cities in Vietnam.
The projects will target the strong demand for industrial and logistics properties coming from the relocation of manufacturing facilities from China, strong trade activities, growing consumption and the accelerated shift to e-commerce. Actis will work with a select group of high-quality local partners to develop these projects.
An Phat 1 Industrial Park is Actis’ first investment in Vietnam under the industrial and logistics strategy. An Phat Holdings is the operating partner in the project. The project has significantly outperformed Actis’ business plan in terms of both sales and construction and has demonstrated strong demand coming from the China Plus One strategy.