VNStockNews.com - Shareholders of Vietnam Enterprise Investments Fund (VEIL) and Vietnam Growth Fund (VGF), both managed by Dragon Capital, on Monday decided to keep the funds active in Vietnam given the country’s good prospect.
Phan Minh Tuan, deputy general director of Dragon Capital, told the Daily via phone that the outcome was beyond expectations of the fund’s management board as investors of the two funds who agreed to let the funds continue investing here made up a fairly high proportion.
During the meeting of the funds’ shareholders in HCMC on Monday, the management tried to convince shareholders about the bright future outlook of Vietnam’s market.
According to a statement issued by Dragon Capital, the annual general meetings saw an unusually high turnout, at 66% for VEIL and 66.8% for VGF. All resolutions were voted in line with the recommendations by the boards of directors, including votes against wind-up of the funds.
VEIL and VGF had been in the spotlight as VR Capital, a Moscow-based fund manager with holdings in the funds, backed the wind-up of the funds. With 83.24% of those voting at VEIL’s meeting and 89.22% at VGF’s meeting voting against the wind-up, it is clear however that the substantial majority of shareholders want the funds to continue, said Dragon Capital.
“The overwhelmed ratio absolutely veto VR Capital’s idea of funds liquidation as well as affirms investors’ confidence in Vietnam’s prospect and Dragon Capital’s management,” Tuan told the Daily.
Dominic Scriven, CEO of Dragon Capital, said in the statement, “The results reflect a clear sentiment that now is not the time to be exiting Vietnam, given strong market fundamentals combined with low equity valuations. The quality of macro-economic management is widely seen to be improving in Vietnam, as the Government moves to tighten financial regulation, modernize monetary policy and build more stability into growth…”
Earlier, VR Capital’s proposed liquidation of the two funds left a negative impact on Vietnam’s stock market. However, securities companies believe that if the funds withdrew from Vietnam, they would affect the market for a short time as did Indochina Capital late last year.
Moreover, a leader of a local fund said that would be a good opportunity for his fund to buy shares on the market.
Established in 1994, Dragon Capital Group is an integrated investment group which started out investing in Vietnam from an initial base of US$16 million and eight staff. By June 2010, Dragon Capital managed US$1.1 billion with over 100 employees in HCMC, Hanoi, United Kingdom, and Bangkok.
Last week, Dragon Capital launched an Asian regional fund to invest in renewable energy, water and waste management in some Asian developing countries including Vietnam with the initial size of US$45 million.
According to the State Bank of Vietnam, foreign indirect investment inflows in Vietnam in the first six months of the year were forecast at US$1.8 billion. (SGT)
