Vietnam investment firms continue to expand

Vietnam-based investment manager Indochina Capital has announced that Tung Kim Nguyen has taken on a new role as deputy CEO of the Indochina Capital Group. In this position he will be responsible for strategy and new business development for the group. Terry Mahony, who joined Indochina Capital Advisors as co-CIO together with Nguyen in June, will now take on the role of sole CIO.

Indochina Capital Advisors is the investment manager of Indochina Capital Vietnam Holdings, a London-listed fund investing primarily in Vietnamese equities and private equity.

ôThis just means I'll be spending more time in the development of Indochina Capital's corporate office,ö says Nguyen.

ôOur firm continues to grow and we need more organisational structure to keep us moving on one track," he adds. "Our group has a national footprint and employs 214 full-time staff directly and an additional 146 full-time staff through our controlled FDI (foreign direct investments) fund investments in real estate projects. From a strong central base, we can increase our commitment to Vietnam across our wide range of businesses including our real estate funds, equities funds, financial advisory business, and our strategic ownership in Mekong Securities.ö

Meanwhile, VinaCapital, an asset management and financial services company in Vietnam, has announced that Roy Fong Siew Hong joined the company on July 15 as director of treasury and fixed income.

Prior to joining VinaCapital, Hong worked with International Paper in Shanghai as regional treasurer for Asia. He has also worked at commercial banks, including SouthQuay Global Markets and London Forfaiting in Hong Kong, where he traded fixed income, convertible bonds, syndicated loans and derivatives.

At VinaCapital, Hong will help manage a fixed-income fund to be launched in September 2008. VinaCapital manages total assets valued at almost $1.9 billion under its four funds. They are: the Vietnam Opportunity Fund, a $662 million diversified investment fund; VinaLand Ltd, a $790 million real estate fund established in March 2006; Vietnam Infrastructure Ltd, a $338 million fund established in July 2007 as the first fund to invest solely in VietnamÆs infrastructure sector; and DFJ VinaCapital, a $35 million technology venture capital fund.

VinaCapital has a dominant stake in VinaSecurities JSC, a brokerage firm. VinaCapital currently employs more than 180 investment personnel in its offices in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Danang, Nha Trang and Hong Kong.

ôThe timing is excellent for VinaCapital to increase our exposure to the fixed-income market in Vietnam,ö says VinaCapital managing director and head of investment Andy Ho.