Though Merril Lynch, the US’s financial management giant, has been pulling out of the Vietnamese market and issued a report earlier this month indicating the market was no longer attractive, several US investment funds have remained optimistic.

At a recent seminar, James Riedel, senior consultant of the STAR Vietnam project, which supports the implementation of the Vietnam-US Bilateral Trade Agreement, said nearly half of portfolios in Vietnam are from the US.

He forecast the sum to rise in the near future as an influx of large banking-finance groups from the US hits the country.

US International Data Group (IDG) Ventures Vietnam – a pioneer local venture capital fund – has recently invested in Vega Software Joint Stock Company and Goldsun Focus Media, leading firms in e-advertisement and software development.

The latest investment, the total of which the fund did not disclose, has brought IDG Ventures’ total spending in 16 Vietnamese IT firms to $25 million since its establishment in Vietnam in 2004.

Duong Thu Huong, the fund’s public relations director, unveiled that the $25 million was only its first wave of investment in the country.

The spending in each firm would be scaled up with the next wave, Huong said, adding the fund is set to inject cash into six to eight more companies before the year’s end.

According to IDG, most of the companies that have benefited from its investment have grown steadily at 20 -30 percent annually, Online game provider Vinagame has grown particularly well.

IDG is also looking to establish its second fund, which would be capitalized at double or triple the current $100 million rate.

UK-listed Indochina Capital – a fund manger invested in mainly by US investors - has plunged over $1 billion into companies in the country over the past 15 years.

As one of Vietnam’s leading investment firms, Indochina manages Vietnam-focused funds in the real estate and the capital markets including Indochina Capital Vietnam Holdings, Indochina Land Holdings, Indochina Land Holdings 2, Mekong Securities, and Indochina Capital Advisory and Finance.

Indochina Capital invested hundreds of millions US dollars acquiring property, telecoms, fruit processing and other stocks in this year’s second quarter alone.

Additionally, many other like Dragon Capital, VinaCapital, and Vietnam Partners Joint Venture are managing profitable business in Vietnam.

Of these the UK-listed VinaCapital established in 2003, manages four funds with a total corpus of $1.8 billion, investing in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Nang and Hong Kong.

These include the $800 million VOF (Vietnam Opportunity Fund), the $600 million Vinaland Limited, the $420 million VIL and the $50 million DFJ VinaCapital L.P. which invests in information and communications technology firms. The first three funds are listed on AIM.

HCMC is home to 40 foreign investment fund managers with the total capital of $20 billion. These have been seeking investment opportunities in the stock market, real estate and others.

Source:  Thanh Nien.