"It went relatively smooth," recounts Ramsey Shilling Commercial Real Estate Services principal Frank Buckley, whose California-based organization brokered the deal. The first of what Buckley says he hopes will be an increasing number of global assignments for Ramsey Shilling involved players spanning the world, with participants not only in Vietnam and London, but also China, Japan and Singapore.

Although due diligence of the property was "accelerated," Buckley tells GlobeSt.com that competent multi-national counsel and cooperation among the parties carried the day. The investors paid out $22 million in cash and assumed a level of underlying debt on the property, which caters to a mix of business and leisure travel.

Vietnam's countenance as a communist county did offer its complexities. "Unlike conventional democratic real estate transactions, international deals like the Omni Hotel often involve complex multi-party agreements that have more to do with the sale of stock and the assignment of government-required licenses than they do with the sale of land, buildings and furnishings," explains Buckley, whose firm has previously focused on its home base in Los Angeles and Hollywood.

Ramsey Shilling represented the sellers and procured the investment group. Buckley credits the involvement to a long-standing affiliation with Darian Management Group CEO Craig Darian, who Buckley says had the experience and relationships within Vietnam's Central Government needed to facilitate the process.

The brokerage effort will not be an on-off transaction, however, Buckley says, reporting that Ramsey Shilling is pursuing a listing for a major development site on Ho Chi Minh's main waterway. An answer on that selection is expected in the next few weeks.

"Setting its sights on Vietnam makes perfect sense for Ramsey Shilling's International Advisory Group," says the firm's CEO, Christopher Bonbright, who cited a young element to the population of 80 million people, plus the country's recent entry into the World Trade Organization, as reasons for optimism.

Vietnam's proactive foreign ministry has provided further solace to international capital, says Buckley, "Precedence suggests that your money is going to be safe there," he says of the country's efforts to attract investment, adding that plans to establish a major distribution center rivaling Hong Kong is also garnering attention.