Vote of Confidence in Vietnam and Dragon Capital Funds
LONDON, July 13 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- On Monday 12 July, Vietnam Enterprise Investments Limited (VEIL) and Vietnam Growth Fund Limited (VGF), investment funds managed by Dragon Capital, held their annual general meetings (AGMs) in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. The AGMs saw unusually high turn-out by shareholders, at 66% for VEIL, and 66.8% for VGF. All resolutions were voted in line with the recommendations of the Boards, including votes against wind-up of the funds.
Richard McKegney, Chairman of VEIL, said, "The continuation vote was written into the fund's Articles of Association back in 1995 at the time of launch. This was before the stock market existed in Vietnam. Shareholders have now had the chance to express their views and the strong consensus is to go forward."
Marc Faber, Chairman of VGF, said, "We are pleased with the confidence shareholders have expressed in the prospects for both Vietnam and the fund, by voting overwhelmingly to continue."
Vietnam is generally seen as one of the world's more promising frontier markets, as reform allows underlying demographic, social and cultural forces to come into their own as powerful growth drivers. The country's stock market has developed rapidly in recent years, now standing at almost $40bn, from under $1bn in 2005, and funds managed by Dragon Capital are the biggest foreign investor in the Vietnamese stock market.
VEIL and VGF have recently been the object of attention from VR Capital, a Moscow-based fund manager with holdings in the funds, that had supported the resolutions to wind up. But 83.24% of those voting in VEIL's AGM and 89.22% of those voting in VGF's AGM opposed wind-up. It is clear therefore that the substantial majority of shareholders wanted the funds to continue.
Asked about the outcome of the AGMs, Dominic Scriven, CEO of Dragon Capital, said, "I would like to thank the investors in VEIL and VGF for participating so enthusiastically in this year's meetings. 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. GDP is expected to expand by 6.5% this year".
For more information, please contact:
Dragon Capital
Beat Schuerch
Phone: +84-8-3823-9355
Email: beatschuerch@dragoncapital.com
Rachel Hill
Phone: +44-122-573-1402
