Press Release

Sumitomo Forestry Co., Ltd.
Kumagai Gumi Co., Ltd.
NTT Urban Development Corporation

Sumitomo Forestry Co., Ltd. (President and Representative Director: Toshiro Mitsuyoshi; headquarters: Tokyo; hereinafter, Sumitomo Forestry), Kumagai Gumi Co., Ltd. (President: Yasunori Sakurano; headquarters: Tokyo; hereinafter, Kumagai Gumi), and NTT Urban Development Corporation (President: Hiroshi Tsujigami; headquarters: Tokyo; hereinafter, NTT Urban Development) will collaborate with Kim Oanh Group , a major local real estate development company, to participate in a township development project in Thuan An City, Binh Duong Province, Vietnam.

The project is a large-scale township development of low-rise (approximately 1,200 units) and high-rise condominiums (approximately 5,500 units) on a 41-hectare site. The total project cost is estimated at 140.0 billion yen with completion of all units scheduled for 2034. The three Japanese companies – Sumitomo Forestry, Kumagai Gumi and NTT Urban Development – will jointly develop the property with Kim Oanh Group to capture demand for housing not only from manager-level employees of nearby industrial parks, but also from commuters to Ho Chi Minh City.

Kim Oanh Group has extensive experience developing a wide range of residential condominiums for sale in southern Vietnam and is actively working to develop environmentally conscious real estate. The project seeks to create a sustainable city that will contribute to carbon neutrality in Vietnam by bringing together Sumitomo Forestry’s design expertise cultivated from its global housing operations and its ability to propose building materials with lower environmental impact, with Kumagai Gumi’s know-how in large-scale construction and civil engineering, NTT Urban Development’s experience in global real estate development, and NTT Group’s knowledge of information and communication technologies.

The developer of the project will be a joint venture company formed from a joint investment of SKN Green Development (hereinafter, SKN) and Kim Oanh Group. SKN is a joint venture company of Sumitomo Forestry’s wholly owned subsidiary Sumirin Vietnam Company Limited (hereinafter, SV), Kumagai Gumi, and NTT Urban Development’s wholly owned subsidiary NTT UD Asia Pte. Ltd. This will be Sumitomo Forestry’s second real estate development project with Kim Oanh Group and the first for Kumagai Gumi and NTT Urban Development.

Sumitomo Forestry Group is engaged in a broad range of global businesses centered on wood, including forestry management, the manufacture and distribution of wood building materials, the contracting of single-family homes and medium- to large-scale wooden buildings, real estate development, and wood biomass power generation. One of our business policies in the medium-term management plan, Mission TREEING 2030 Phase 1, is advancing globalization, and towards this aim, we are strengthening our revenue base in Asia. Sumitomo Forestry Group has been involved in the distribution and manufacture of wood products in Vietnam since 2012. We began participating in a condominium development in Ho Chi Minh City in 2015 and in a low-rise project in Ba Ria Vung Tau Province, a suburb of Ho Chi Minh City, in 2023. The Binh Duong Province project marks our third residential development in Vietnam. By accumulating experience and knowledge of the Vietnamese real estate development business, we will strive to harness synergies among our group companies, further expand our business and strengthen our revenue base.

In our medium-term management plan (2021~2023), Kumagai Gumi has set out the evolution of the construction peripheral business as one of our business strategies and has been focusing efforts on the real estate development business. In Vietnam, Kumagai Gumi is also participating on a solar power generation project as part of our prioritized renewable energy operations and is considering offshore wind power generation, as well. Through this Binh Duong Province project, the company aims to accelerate the real estate business, another key area of focus, and secure stable earnings by diversifying revenue sources. Furthermore, in line with its ESG policy, Kumagai Gumi seeks to contribute to the realization of sustainable communities through investments in the real estate development business.

NTT Urban Development is a member of the NTT Urban Solutions Group, which handles NTT Group’s urban development businesses. By fully utilizing our experience and know-how in the real estate business and by maximizing NTT Group’s resources in ICT, energy and environmental technologies, NTT Urban Development seeks to promote a new type of urban development that addresses a wide array issues faced by local communities. This Binh Duong Province project marks NTT Urban Development’s third housing development project in Southeast Asia, following a 2020 housing project in Binh Duong Province, Vietnam, and a 2024 housing project in Cebu, Philippines. This will be the company’s first participation in a township project. Utilizing this accumulated know-how, NTT Urban Development hopes to further expand operations in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries.