Coverage of the October 23 groundbreaking has centered on one figure: VND 60,000 billion. For anyone holding PDR shares, two other numbers matter more: 35% and VND 7,666 billion. They show how much of the project Phat Dat owns and what it paid for that stake. Read against the company's financial statements, the answer is that the cost of the deal is already showing up while the benefits have yet to take shape.
The project on prime Thu Thiem land
On the morning of October 23, a joint venture between Korea's Lotte Group and Phat Dat Real Estate Development Corp (HoSE: PDR) broke ground on Lotte Eco Smart City Thu Thiem, with a total investment of about VND 60,000 billion.CafeF The project sits in functional zone 2A of the Thu Thiem New Urban Area, now part of An Khanh ward in Ho Chi Minh City. The site covers 74,513.4 square meters, about 7.45 hectares, split into six adjoining lots numbered 2-1 to 2-6 and planned as a mix of Grade A offices, retail, hospitality and housing.Người Quan Sát
The developer is Lotte Properties HCMC Co., Ltd. It finished paying VND 17,569 billion in land-use fees on July 31, 2026, so the land obligation was settled before the groundbreaking.CafeF Three banks are backing the project: MB, VietinBank and BIDV.
The 35% stake and what it cost
Under Decision 4102/QD-UBND of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, dated July 3, 2026, Phat Dat owns 35% of Lotte Properties HCMC's charter capital. Three Lotte entities hold the rest: Lotte Shopping 30.59%, Hotel Lotte 22.94% and Lotte E&C 11.47%.CafeF Entity by entity, Phat Dat is the largest single shareholder. But the Lotte group together holds 65%, so control rests with the Korean side.
On August 10, Phat Dat said it had completed a VND 7,666 billion payment to take over the 35% stake.Người Quan Sát According to CafeF, MB is financing the whole of Phat Dat's capital contribution to the project.CafeF
To see how large that is, set it beside two of Phat Dat's own figures. At June 30, 2026, PDR's total borrowings stood at VND 5,246.15 billion, below the VND 7,666 billion payment. At the October 22 close of VND 12,050 per share, PDR's market capitalization is roughly VND 12,000 billion, so the Thu Thiem stake alone equals almost two-thirds of the whole company's market value.
Which blocks Phat Dat will develop
Phat Dat plays two different roles. On housing in blocks 2-2, 2-4 and 2-6, it co-develops with Lotte, with construction expected to take 36 months.Người Quan Sát In the commercial, services and office component, it develops both towers, 2-1 and 2-3, in full: the high-rise sections, a four-story retail podium and the basements, with total floor area of about 219,722 square meters.CafeF Block 2-5, also commercial, is developed by Lotte alone.
So the part Phat Dat develops on its own is offices and retail, while housing is shared. Offices and retail space usually earn money through rent over many years if the owner keeps them, unlike apartments, which are sold once. So far, though, the partners have not said whether towers 2-1 and 2-3 will be sold or leased, nor when the housing will go on sale.
Project profit and interest costs reach the books by different routes
This is where PDR holders can easily misread the accounts. Phat Dat holds 35% and the Lotte group 65%, so Phat Dat will most likely account for Lotte Properties HCMC as an associate under Vietnamese accounting standards, not as a subsidiary. Under that treatment, revenue from home sales or office leasing does not flow into Phat Dat's revenue. Its 35% share of profit would instead appear in the income statement under profit or loss from joint ventures and associates, and only once Lotte Properties HCMC itself is profitable.
The treatment could differ if the cooperation agreement has special terms for towers 2-1 and 2-3, for example a product- or revenue-sharing mechanism by block. Disclosures so far do not address this, so it remains an open question that must wait for the notes to the financial statements.
The cost side takes a more direct route. The loan used to buy the stake sits on Phat Dat's balance sheet, so interest is typically booked straight into the company's financial expenses from the disbursement period. The interest burden was already heavy before the deal: in Q2 2026, PDR's interest expense was VND 101.07 billion, up 62.97% from a year earlier and equal to 125.61% of the quarter's after-tax profit. The debt-to-equity ratio at June 30 was 1.27x. All of this predates the completion of the VND 7,666 billion payment on August 10.
In short, the cost of the deal has begun to run through Phat Dat's accounts, while the benefit flows through a separate entity and depends on how fast the project reaches the market.
From groundbreaking to cash
The groundbreaking moves the project into construction, after the land fees were paid and the equity transfer completed. The milestones that determine when cash reaches Phat Dat have not been announced: the sales schedule for housing blocks 2-2, 2-4 and 2-6, the plan for operating towers 2-1 and 2-3, and the handover date. With construction expected to take 36 months, revenue from housing handovers, at a normal pace, is unlikely to land before 2029. Deposits could arrive sooner once sales open, but they would flow to Lotte Properties HCMC first.
There are two ways to read the deal. The optimistic one says Phat Dat has swapped a large debt for a long-term position in the core of Thu Thiem, alongside a partner experienced in running commercial property like Lotte. The cautious one says the company is carrying interest costs today for a stream of profit whose pace it does not control, since Lotte holds the majority. Each is partly right, and the facts available are not enough to favor either.
Disclosures worth watching
Phat Dat's Q3 2026 financial statements, for the period ending September 30, will be the first to reflect the full payment completed on August 10. The first line to open is long-term borrowings, against VND 3,161.44 billion at June 30. It will show how much MB has actually disbursed for the deal.
The second is the quarter's interest expense, set against Q2's VND 101.07 billion, which is the part of the deal's cost already running through the income statement. The third is the investment in associates and its notes: how Phat Dat classifies Lotte Properties HCMC, and whether there are special terms for towers 2-1 and 2-3.
After Q3, the next disclosure to wait for is the sales plan for the housing blocks. Once a sales schedule appears, PDR watchers will have a timeline to set against each quarter's interest costs. If interest keeps exceeding after-tax profit while the project has no sales schedule, the gap between the deal's costs and its benefits will stretch across many more quarters.