SINGAPORE (March 22): Mapletree Investments has officially launched Mapletree Business Centre, its first office development in Vietnam, at District 7 of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was present together as guest-of-honour with Vietnam’s deputy PM, Trinh Dinh Dung, at the opening ceremony held this morning at the office development in HCMC.

Mapletree Business Centre is a 17-storey office tower with 28,384 sqm of gross floor area (GFA) and is designed to international Grade ‘A’ specifications. The building is developed and managed by Mapletree Vietnam Management Consultancy.

In its release on Wednesday, Mapletree says the premium office tower has attracted strong leasing interests from many global and local corporations, and is home to companies including Standard Chartered Bank, Uniben, Far Eastern Polytex and SCC UK.

The completion of Mapletree Business Centre marks the second phase of precinct transformation at the 4.4-hectare Saigon South Place Complex, a mixed-use project is master-planned and developed by Mapletree in phases.

Its first phase was a joint venture with Saigon Co.op — SC VivoCity, a shopping mall which opened in April 2015 with 64,250 sqm of GFA.

Aside from an Oakwood-branded serviced apartment and RichLane, a high-rise residential block, both of which Mapletree says are on track for completion by end-2017, there are also plans for two more office towers in the precinct.

“Tapping on our rich experience in rejuvenating the HarbourFront and Alexandra precincts in Singapore, we aim to create a work-live-play environment by combining lifestyle, office and residential at Saigon South Place Complex,” says Edmund Cheng, chairman of Mapletree.

Together with the two PMs, Chng earlier today unveiled the plaque of Mapletree Business Centre at the opening ceremony as well as toured Co.opXtra, a hypermarket set up by Saigon Co.op and Singapore’s NTUC FairPrice at SC VivoCity.

Mapletree currently owns and manages more than S$1.2 billion worth of mixed-use, office, retail, industrial, logistics, residential and serviced apartment assets in Hanoi, HCMC, Binh Duong and Bac Ninh.