Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Indochina Capital's fund makes positive debut

Indochina Capital Vietnam Holdings Limited announced its successful debut of its shares listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in Ha Noi on March 19.
Managed by Indochina Capital, the fund is worth 500mio US$, about 200mio US$ more than planned.
This includes a 50mio US$ green shoe option.

"This is much higher than out initial target of between 300 and 350mio US$," said Peter Ryder, chief executive officer of Indochina Capital.

The investment jump is in part thanks to investment from 10 institutions including Tudor Funds, Deutsche Bank Prop Desk and Citigroup Global Markets that committed 225mio US$ to the company before the fund's initial public offering (IPO).

"We are delighted that so many prominent foreign institutional investors have chosen to invest in the fund's IPO. We believe the fund is well positioned to be a long-term investor in Vietnamese companies," said Ryder.

The investment fund is Viet Nam's first to be listed on the LSE's main board. It went public on March 7 under the stock ticker ICV.L and is considered a closed-end company.

Credit Suisse insured the company's IPO with Mekong Securities Joint Stock Company brokering the deal.

Tung Kim Nguyen, co-chief investment officer of Indochina Capital, said the fund will invest carefully in a broad range of businesses like private joint-stock companies, State-owned companies that are equitised, joint ventures and fixed income securities.
"Many of the companies we are going to invest in have not yet listed in Ha Noi or Ho Chi Minh City, but have a chance of listing in the future," said Nguyen.

Established in Viet Nam in 1999, Indochina Capital also manages two real estate funds, worth a combined 300mio US$. In total, the company manages around 900mio US$ in equities and bonds as well as real estate funds.

Indochina Capital chose the London Stock Exchange because it was most feasible for the company and because of its high level of liquidity.

"While most of our investors are taking a medium or long-term approach, London's great volume of daily trading means that if they have to sell their shares, there will be greater chances to do so there," said Ryder.

Source: VNA

No comments: