Having been present in Vietnam for more than 3 decades, Keppel is now one of the largest real estate investors in Vietnam. What important milestones has the company achieved in recent times, sir?

Keppel's real estate division has been operating in Vietnam since the early 1990s, shortly after Vietnam opened its doors to international investors, and has today become one of the largest foreign real estate investors, with more than 20 projects, total registered investment capital of about US$3.5 billion.

Keppel is a reputable investor in the market with residential projects Riviera Point, Estella Heights and Celesta Rise, and commercial project and Grade A office building Saigon Centre in Ho Chi Minh City.

Over the past three decades, Keppel has been proud to contribute to Vietnam’s urbanisation journey by delivering sustainable and quality real estate solutions, raising the living standards of its people and communities. We are calling on investors to build high-quality projects through our investment platform and asset portfolio.

A typical example is the Keppel Vietnam Fund, which combines capital from Keppel and global institutional investors to invest in residential, commercial, as well as mixed-use and urban projects in Vietnam.

To date, Keppel Vietnam Fund, as well as foreign institutional investors, have joined Keppel in investing in 6 high-quality housing projects in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. When fully invested and fully utilized, the Fund can manage assets worth approximately US$1 billion.

In addition to real estate, we also focus on infrastructure. In 2023, our infrastructure division launched the “Energy as a Service” solution in Vietnam, with contracts worth over USD 70 million. This solution includes power supply, cooling, decarbonization and smart energy management, allowing businesses and building owners to achieve significant energy savings without large upfront investments.

Keppel donates saline water filtration system to local people

Keppel has been recognised as a sustainable enterprise at the Top 50 Corporate Sustainability Awards 2024. How does this award reflect the Company’s commitment to sustainability?

This is the third consecutive year that Keppel has been recognised at the Top 50 Sustainable Businesses (CSA) Awards. This year, Keppel was recognised in the Outstanding Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) category. We are committed to being a responsible business that creates a positive impact on the communities in which we operate. Our CSR initiatives focus on areas such as community contribution, environmental protection and education.

One of the CSR activities we are particularly proud of is Living Well, which will be implemented for the first time in Vietnam in 2022, to bring clean water to people in drought and saltwater intrusion areas. Other initiatives include a program to plant 3,000 trees in the Dong Nai Nature and Culture Reserve, and expanding the RISE to the Challenge project to schools to raise awareness about rising sea levels.

Since 2021, Keppel has contributed more than VND13 billion to Vietnamese society and conducted nearly 6,500 volunteer hours through about 30 CSR activities. These activities have contributed to bringing a better life to about 83,000 people in 10 provinces and cities across Vietnam.

Keppel contributes to Vietnam's urbanization journey with sustainable and quality real estate development solutions.

What are the advantages and challenges in doing business in the Vietnamese market, sir?

Vietnam and Singapore have strong economic relations and bilateral trade continues to grow steadily.

With extensive capabilities in infrastructure, real estate and digital connectivity, Keppel is well-positioned to continue contributing to Vietnam’s sustainable growth and attract additional capital from global investors through our investment platform and quality asset portfolio.

In Vietnam, we build partnerships with reputable businesses such as Khang Dien and Phu Long, companies with extensive knowledge, experience and connections.

We believe we can continue to build this mutually beneficial relationship with local partners to turn challenges into opportunities.

What suggestions do you have to help the real estate market develop sustainably in a green direction in the coming time?

In the journey towards sustainable development and real estate development in Vietnam, addressing and reducing carbon emissions in the built environment is imperative. To achieve this, stronger collaboration between public and private sectors is needed, with the Government playing an important role in encouraging the adoption of sustainable solutions.

In Singapore, for example, the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore offers financial incentives to developers who meet certain green criteria. Keppel has tapped into this to make improvements to its properties such as Keppel Bay Tower.

A slightly different approach could also be considered in Vietnam, where the Government could consider providing more usable space or longer tenures to encourage developers to adopt green and clean solutions and technologies to build more sustainable buildings.

These efforts by the Government will encourage more real estate investors to deploy and incorporate green features into their projects.

Keppel is promoting the “Sustainable Urban Regeneration” (SUR) model, which reshapes existing buildings by retrofitting assets and incorporating new technologies and smart solutions to make buildings more efficient. The shift from a traditional developer to an urban innovator model will help create circularity and reduce the carbon footprint of business operations, which is what we aim to deliver in Vietnam.

What plans does Keppel have to further expand its presence in the Vietnamese market, as well as contribute to promoting the development of bilateral relations in the coming time, sir?

We see opportunities in Vietnam to develop sustainable solutions. Keppel is well positioned to attract global financial investors who can fund the development of smarter, greener solutions and assets. We will leverage our capabilities in developing and operating such assets to provide critical infrastructure and services for renewable energy, clean energy, decarbonisation, sustainable urban innovation and digital connectivity to Vietnam.

In addition to the infrastructure and real estate solutions mentioned above, Keppel can provide integrated solutions for clean energy data centers; asset development, management and operation, contributing to Vietnam's Net Zero goal.

Our data centre development portfolio is extensive with 32 centres across Asia Pacific and Europe. As demand for data storage grows in Vietnam, we see an opportunity for Keppel to provide integrated data centre solutions to support Vietnam’s rapidly growing digital economy.

These are just some of the many opportunities that we hope to develop and build upon as the Vietnam-Singapore bilateral relationship continues to grow stronger.