VinaCapital, one of the largest investment and asset management firms in Việt Nam, is likely to launch a US$200 million equity fund by early 2017. — Photo www.g3newswire.com

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — VinaCapital, one of the largest investment and asset management firms in Việt Nam, is likely to launch a US$200 million equity fund by early 2017. The fund is aimed at Vietnamese companies, the Singapore-based news and intelligence platform DealStreetAsia reported.

"US$200 million is quite doable. It depends on our ability to deploy money in two to three years. If too much money comes in and we cannot deploy it in that period, that is not good," VinaCapital's CEO Andy Ho told DealStreetAsia at the Asia Private Equity – Venture Capital summit held in Singapore late last week.

The firm has yet to decide the exact size of the equity fund and when it will be launched, DealStreetAsia reported.

The firm's recent investments have seen a rise in value, which is the main reason it is considering launching the new equity fund, Andy said. "Now we invest in the range of $20-70 million because the businesses are getting bigger and our funds are also getting bigger. In order to move and become more effective we have to move to larger opportunities."

VinaCapital will look at companies that "can stand alone and operate". The larger the investment opportunities are, the easier it is to divest from those businesses.

However, it is quite difficult to raise funds as Việt Nam still is a weak brand, and VinaCapital will have to look for investors who are really interested in the local market, Andy said.

VinaCapital has disbursed its investments in Vietnamese private companies through the closed-end investment fund, Vietnam Opportunity Fund (VOF). The latest VOF investment is an investment partnership with the German KfW Group's DEG Fund, to pump $30 million into Vietnamese woodproduct manufacturer An Cuong Wood-Working Materials. — VNS