VietNamNet Bridge – Despite the ups and downs of the stock market, foreign investment continued to flow into Vietnam in 2014, and a number of funds reported satisfactory business results.

Chris Freund, CEO of Mekong Capital, which was established 13 years ago,, said 2014 was the fund’s most successful year. All of its investments in consumer-goods companies had impressive success.

The Gioi Di Dong (MobiWorld), for example, reported impressive profit increase of 159 percent in 2014. MobiWorld is a mobile phone distribution chain that received investment from MEF II (Mekong Enterprise Fund II), one of the funds managed by Mekong Capital.

Believing that The Gioi Di Dong still had great potential to develop, Mekong Capital decided to hold The Gioi Di Dong’s shares instead of de-investing after five years, as it does with other investment items.

In 2007, Mekong Capital poured $3.5 million into MobiWorld to buy a 35 percent stake.

In March 2013, it sold 6.7 percent of shares and earned profits 11 times higher than the cost price. When it sold another 9 percent of shares in 2014, it gained profits 22 times higher than investment capital.

According to LCF Rothschild, an UK-based securities firm, most of the investment funds in Vietnam witnessed satisfactory NAV (net asset value) growth.

The highest growth rate, 34.5 percent, was seen by the $21 million Vietnam Property Holdings, managed by Saigon Asset Management (SAM).

Vietnam Equity Holding, with $75 million in investment capital, which is another fund managed by SAM, reported a growth rate of 19 percent, ranking third among the funds with the best growth in 2014.

VinaCapital and Dragon Capital, the two companies that manage the biggest assets in Vietnam, reported the highest growth rates, of 14.4 percent and 9 percent, respectively, in 2014.

Dragon Capital, one of the first such companies in Vietnam, reported that all of its five investment funds saw NAV growing in 2014.

Meanwhile, the two investment funds listed on the Stuttgart stock market - Vietnam Equity Holding (VEH) and Vietnam Property Holding (VPH) - managed by SAM have been named by LCF Rothschild as two out of three funds with the best investment efficiency in 2014.

Louis Nguyen, CEO and president of SAM, said 2014 was the most effective year of the company over the last seven years in Vietnam.

SAM made heavy investments in the business fields which saw stock prices sharply decreasing in the first months of 2014, and sold overvalued shares in the third quarter of the year.

Nguyen said that investors this year are expected to show interest in profitable state-owned enterprises that will be equitized and in shares of undervalued businesses.

DNSG