Savills Jumps Into Vietnam’s Real Estate Market

From vneconomy.com

Savills, one of the world’s leading real estate group, has announced its investment in Chesterton Petty Vietnam. With the investment, as of June 1, 2007, Chesterton Petty Vietnam will be Savills Vietnam Ltd.

Robert McKellar, Director General of Savills Asia-Pacific, said that his company had decided to make investment in one of the developing real estate markets and the most dynamic markets in Asia. The investment is a strategic step which will pave the way for the group’s participation in other important markets in Asia-Pacific.

According to Mr McKellar, Vietnam is now experiencing a period of very fast economic growth with the forecast foreign direct investment of $13bil in 2007. A fast developing economy always leads to higher demands in construction and real estate development, as well as associated consultancy services.

According to Alastair Orr Ewing, Chairman of Chesterton Petty Vietnam, only the name of the company will change; the staff of Chesterton in Vietnam will remain the same. The cooperation will help Chesterton Petty to continue its strategy to expand business in Vietnam.

Savills has been chosen as the new partner of Chesterton Petty in Vietnam thanks to its big capability and its ambitious business plan in Asia.

Established in 1855, Savills is a real estate consultancy group that has shares listed on the London Stock Exchange. It has the total capital of more than $2bil and is present in 29 countries in the world, where it has opened 160 offices and employs 15,800 staffs. In the fiscal year of 2006, Savills reached the turnover of more than $1bil, and the pre-tax profit of more than $170mil.

In Asia-Pacific, Savills has 30 offices in China, Hong Kong and Macau, Taiwan, the Philippines, Australia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Thailand, where some 11,000 staffs are working. Savills earned $250mil in turnover in 2006 from its business in Asia-Pacific.

In related news, the HCM City Investment and Trade Promotion Centre (ITPC) plans to hold a workshop on Vietnam’s real estate market on August 13-14 in Singapore to introduce the potential of the market to international investors.