HUNG THINH LAND’S CEO: FACING INSTEAD OF 'WINTER SLEEP' IN RESPONSE TO DIFFICULTIES

Through two epidemic outbreaks, Hung Thinh is not only stable but also becomes more developed than the general market level...

Mr. Le Trong Khuong, General Director of Hung Thinh Land.

Talking with BizLIVE on the occasion of Vietnamese Entrepreneurs’ Day (October 13), Mr. Le Trong Khuong, General Director of Hung Thinh Land - a key member company of Hung Thinh Corporation, shared solutions to cope with impacts from recent Covid-19 epidemic, as well as suggesting upcoming big plans.

In particular, even in the context that the market has been still unpredictably impacted by the epidemic, Hung Thinh Land is planning to issue shares to the public for the first time (IPO)...

Sir, before heading to the IPO event expected in the near future, can you tell about the impacts of Covid-19 on business activities of enterprises in the industry as well as Hung Thinh Land? How did you and your business face and experience this challenge?

2020 is a difficult year for all enterprises in all industries. Real estate alone has actually suffered a lot of big impacts in both outbreaks. In parallel, there are many common challenges in the market such as: real estate credit tightening, very slow land valuation, mixed land policy...

With the above difficulties, Hung Thinh Land chose to face for finding the right direction, and gave flexible policies to adapt. We currently have a portfolio of more than 100 projects with a land fund of over 4,500 ha in many provinces, which is a solid foundation for us to maintain growth and overcome the current general difficulties of the market.

Personally, through this epidemic, besides work, I also feel more valuable about sharing, supporting each other in difficult times and appreciating the health of myself and my family. Therefore, in addition to the usual work schedule, I spend more time on physical exercise to ensure my health as well as arrange a more scientific working time.

Could you tell more specifically when you choose to face and find the right direction as mentioned above...

From the Covid-19 epidemic time to now, instead of 'hibernating' and waiting for the epidemic to go through, we chose to research and improve our products to better suit the current 'taste' of customers. Accordingly, the apartment blocks developed by Hung Thinh Land were focused on design that is airy, harmonious with nature, and at the same time some more functions are upgraded such as smart apartments, integrated with modern technology.

In particular, instead of focusing on developing expensive downtown apartments due to the scarcity of land area, we chose to develop projects in satellite areas and places with high growth potential and mechanical population growth rate, reasonable price, suitable for the majority of customers with real residential needs.

In parallel, we applied reasonable policies during the epidemic season such as payment discounts, cash gifts equivalent to 5% of total amount paid to customers...

In addition, Hung Thinh suspended the products that were being impacted. If any product is adapted to the post-Covid-19, they will be boosted.

Most importantly, we determined that this was the time all officers and employees of Hung Thinh Corporation in general and Hung Thinh Land in particular must unanimously support each other, surpass Covid to develop. Therefore, for the past two epidemic outbreaks, Hung Thinh has been not only stable but also become more developed than the general market level.


And it’s also very happy that on October 7, at the 16th Anniversary of Vietnamese Entrepreneur’s Day and Typical Ho Chi Minh City Enterprises Honoring in 2020, organized by the HCM City Business Association in coordination with HCM city People's Committee, Hung Thinh Land was honored to be typical HCMC Enterprise in 2020 for breakthroughs and creative transformation in business.

Hung Thinh Land was honored to be a typical HCMC enterprise in 2020.

It’s known that Hung Thinh Corporation is implementing a strong restructuring, under which Hung Thinh Land will be the nucleus in real estate development. Can you share more about the process of restructuring and shaping Hung Thinh Land through this process?

As a key member, the only unit in the Group implementing real estate investment, development and trading, Hung Thinh Land has recorded strong growth in capital and asset size after the strategy Hung Thinh Corporation's restructuring was announced. Under this strategy, Hung Thinh Land will become one of the leading real estate developers in Vietnam on the basis of project development and land bank of Hung Thinh Corporation.

The company's equity as of the end of June 2020 is VND 6,083 billion and will grow strongly when the company completes the merger of the Corporation's projects. The ratio of bank loans to equity is currently maintaining less than 1 time. With brand reputation and financial capacity, in the coming time, Hung Thinh Land has many opportunities to mobilize more capital at reasonable costs.


In particular, by owning top land fund in strategic locations, Hung Thinh Land can ensure sustainable growth and development in the following 10 years. However, the company continues to expand its land fund to catch up with the infrastructure development trend and demands for settlement and relaxation of the majority of Vietnamese people.

Hung Thinh Land is currently considered as the second largest real estate developer in Vietnam, behind Vinhomes, with 4% of the market share of residential real estate in Vietnam in the period of 2016 - the first half of 2020 (according to the updated report on September 17, 2020 of Vietcombank Securities Company).

Hung Thinh Land has the second largest residential real estate market share in Vietnam.

As discussed above, following Hung Thinh Incons, the Corporation plans to list Hung Thinh Land's shares on the stock exchange. Could you share more about this plan? What are the competitive factors of Hung Thinh Land's shares in the industry?

Currently, we are planning initial public offering (IPO) with Hung Thinh Land. With the IPO of Hung Thinh Land, we want to share opportunities and success with our partners, as well as have more new resources to develop high quality products, reasonable prices, modern facilities, serving the real residential needs of the majority of house buyers, besides, deeply exploit technology to form a transparent and healthy real estate ecosystem and create opportunities for all buyers and sellers to participate in the market.

Compared to other shares in the industry, Hung Thinh Land has the advantage of solid financial potential, a top-rank large land fund and diversified types of real estate investment projects stretching in many provinces nationwide with many prime locations. In particular, the ability to deploy the project and distribution system is considered the most elite army in the southern market, creating competitiveness of Hung Thinh Land when conducting IPO in the coming time.

As for the general operation direction, for the time being, our goal by the end of this year is to continue to maintain growth, have diversified business products and ensure stable income as well as benefits for employees in the company for mutual sustainable development. At the same time, M&A activities are being actively promoted to mobilize more capital at reasonable costs to enhance the brand reputation and financial capacity of Hung Thinh Land.