Hong Kong's CK Asset, others indicate interest in properties linked to Vietnam bank fraud

CK Asset Holdings

04/04/2024 07:27

By Francesco Guarascio
       HANOI, April 4 (Reuters) - Hong Kong developer CK Asset
Holdings  1113.HK  and some other foreign investors have
expressed interest in properties worth billions of dollars
linked to Vietnam's biggest financial fraud, letters written to
a court showed. 
    Prosecutors in the Communist-ruled country have accused real
estate tycoon Truong My Lan of being the architect of a scheme
of loans to shell companies that siphoned off 304 trillion dong
(about $12 billion) from one of the country's largest private
banks by assets, Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank (SCB), which
Lan effectively controlled through proxies. 
    SCB was bailed out by the central bank in late 2022 after a
run on deposits spurred by Lan's arrest, and since then
Vietnamese authorities have sought foreign investors' interest
in the lender.
    A key hurdle for any deal has been the valuation and legal
status of assets held by Lan's property firm Van Thinh Phat
(VTP) and used as collateral for loans or bonds.
    Investigators said assets used by VTP and its affiliates as
collateral for the loans they took from SCB had a book value of
about $48 billion before Lan's arrest but analysts have said the
value could have been inflated.
    Dozens of people are under trial in the financial fraud
case, which is underway at the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh
City. Lan risks the death penalty.
    Some of her business partners wrote to the court to
emphasise her role in attracting investments in Vietnam while
some of them expressed interest in the assets, according to
three letters seen by Reuters.
    One of them is signed by CK Asset Executive Director Justin
Chiu, who in the letter addressed to the court said his group
began talks in 2022 with Lan for a potential investment in the
real estate portfolio held by her property firm.
    "I urge the court and the government of Vietnam to consider
creating favourable conditions for interested investors to
continue their negotiations with all relevant parties (..) to
prepare for the next steps of any possible investment," he
wrote, adding he considered Lan a trustworthy partner.
    CK Asset, which is owned by Hong Kong billionaire Li
Ka-shing and is run by his son Victor, did not reply to a
request for comment about its interest in VTP's assets.
    Among firms that sent letters to the court is Lifestyle
International Holding, a major Hong Kong retailer which owns the
Sogo department store in the former British colony. 
    In his letter, Lifestyle International's Executive Director
Kamsen Lau praised Lan's work in talks before the COVID-19
pandemic over the Hong Kong company's possible investments in
Vietnam's property sector and department stores.
    Negotiations were suspended during the pandemic, but he said
the company continued to believe in Vietnam's potential and saw
"ample opportunity to expand" there. 
    Lifestyle International did not reply to a request for
comment.
    Singapore asset manager Vantage Point proposed in its letter
to cooperate "in providing comprehensive solutions for
SCB-related assets", including developing strategies to maximise
the value of the assets and pursuing interest from global
institutional investors.
    Vantage did not reply to a request for comment.
    The Vietnam court has not yet accepted the letters as
documents for the trial. A court official declined to comment
about the reasons for not accepting the letters. During the
trial, the judge said the letters, which are not public, needed
consular authentication, according to state media.

 (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; Additional reporting by
Khanh Vu in Hanoi and Clare Jim in Hong Kong; Editing by
Muralikumar Anantharaman)
 ((Francesco.Guarascio@thomsonreuters.com;))