Vietcombank launches 2nd fund

Vietcombank Fund Management (VCBF) launched its second fund Friday, 120mio US$ closed-end private-equity fund.
Vietcombank Partners Fund 2 had been mobilized from regional and global financial institutions, Vu Viet Ngoan, general director of Vietcombank, the country’s leading foreign trade lender and majority stakeholder in VCBF, said.
The money raised would be invested in unlisted firms, especially large public companies or state-run corporations, that planned to go public soon.
The eight-year fund would also invest a small portion in listed stocks.

Like Partners Fund 1, the new fund would also focus on the oil and gas, banking, insurance, IT, and telecom industries.
Partners Fund 1, which raised 200 billion VND(12.5mio US$) in January last year, is fully invested in unlisted firms some of which will list this year.
It was subscribed by Vietnamese and foreign financial institutions.

VCBF is a joint venture in which the Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam (Vietcombank) holds 51 percent, and Viet Capital Holding Pte. of Singapore the rest.
VCBF has also inked a memorandum of understanding with London Asia Capital, a London-listed Asia-focused merchant banking group, to set up an investment fund.

London Asia Capital will raise capital from investors abroad for the fund while the Vietnamese partner will locate projects in the country for investment.
The fund, whose corpus is yet to be decided, will invest in Vietnamese companies that are in the process of equitization or seeking to list globally.

It will target companies whose products and services benefit from Vietnam’s rapid economic growth, increasing wealth, and accession to the World Trade Organization.

Source: Thanh Nien