is there any mutual fund that focuses on Vietnam? How do I invest in Vietnam?

Question

I think Vietnam will benefit from some of the investment rotating out of China into Vietnam. How do I get exposure to their stock market? Any mutual funds that focus on Vietnam?

Thanks

Answer 1

There are 2 funds that trade principally on the London AIM (the alternate investment market) and these can both be purchased also through the US pink sheet system. A 3rd fund with real estate holdings trades in the AIM only.

1) The Vietnamese Opportunity Fund trades in London under VOF and pink sheets under VTOPF.PK. This fund is managed by Vinacapital. See:
http://www.vinacapital.com

2) A newer (since july/06) fund is Vietnam Holdings, trades in London under VNH and pink sheets under VNMHF.PK. This fund is managed by Swiss financier Juerg Vontobel. See:
http://www.vietnamholdings.com

If you're in north America, don't be too alarmed by the pink sheets designation. That "F" at the end of the symbol means the foreign section of pink sheets stocks. Some highly respectable foreign companies trade there. The "F" designation means that no shares actually trade in the USA, that all orders are executed by a syndicate of brokers directly upon the foreign exchange that hosts the stock.

In other words, if an investor enters a pink sheet order for, say, VNMHT.pk, it will actually be filled in London. It's a good idea to enter an order that's good for at least 2 days, because the London AIM closes about the time north American markets open at 9:30 am, so a hypothetical order entered for VNMHF.pk at 11:30 am has no chance of being filled until London opens the following day.

A caution: both the above-mentioned funds are trusts based in the Cayman islands. There's no recourse. There's no SEC, no watchdog authority whatsoever. It's a good idea to study the websites extremely carefully before making any purchase.

The Vietnamese stock exchange is based in Ho Chi Minh city and there may be a 2nd one in Hanoi. These exchanges are only about 6 years old and they are suffering most of the turbulent problems the Chinese exchanges did 15 and 20 years ago - overselling of stock, wild speculation, insider trading and so on. A couple of weeks ago the minister of finance held a high-level conference to address these problems, putting in place some controls that address these issues. So an investor should expect a rocky ride and should be prepared to absorb high level of risk.

Bloomberg's foreign market indices page updates the Ho Chi Minh index every day, and another daily news source in English is http://www.thanhniennews.com/business.

As you're probably aware, the Vietnamese economy is booming, country recently entered the World Trade organization, its stock market may serve as a counterpoise to overly-frothy and possibly-correcting north American markets. Wishing you the best of luck.

Answer 2

Vietnam Mutual Fund

Answer 3

Yes, there are some, but before you do any investing in Nam, read this article first:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_16/b3929159.htm


Good night, and good luck. Col. Kurtz.

Answer 4

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They were spat upon and called "baby killers" by their own people.

Answer 5

likely yes but beware coruption