News & Publications

Based on conversations we have recently had with prospective investors, we wanted to share the impact of women in the workforce in Vietnam. Most of our audience were surprised to learn that Vietnam has long been a pioneer of gender equality. In today’s bi-weekly insights piece, Chief Economist Michael Kokalari shares how Vietnam has been a leader in gender equality, and how this leadership fostered economic growth and created attractive investment opportunities. VinaCapital is proud to have been investing in women and offering equal opportunities for years, most notably through our VinaCapital Foundation.

In the first quarter of 2022, against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions and market volatility, activity in VinaCapital’s Alternatives Business has been buoyant. Our Clean Energy team extended their network and pipeline through high-profile events in Singapore and the UK. Our VinaLiving Real Estate team was busy following through with sales and achieved more than 90% absorption rate for their most recent projects. Several portfolio companies of our Venture Capital team reached significant milestones and our Private Equity team invested into Nova Consumer Group, a leading company in animal health, animal feed and farm products.

Stock exchanges in Vietnam can be a topic of confusion for foreign investors new to the market. In fact, many investors may not be aware that apart from the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HOSE), from which the widely quoted VN Index is built, Vietnam has two other exchanges: Hanoi Stock Exchange and UpCOM. As a follow up to recent conversations with clients, Chief Economist Michael Kokalari shares how these exchanges differ from one another, and discusses their performance in Q1 2022. Dispersion among the exchanges, as well as sectors and individual stocks, has created an ideal environment for active managers like VinaCapital to build high conviction portfolios that outperform the benchmark. In fact, after a very strong year of outperformance in 2021, all of our local and offshore equity funds outperformed the VN Index by at least 6% in Q1.

2022 has reminded investors about the importance of understanding geopolitical risks and how interconnected the world has become. Recently many of our clients have asked us about events in China, both within the economy and the stock market, and the potential implications for Vietnam. In our bi-weekly insights piece, Chief Economist Michael Kokalari, shares why what is happening in China’s real estate market and stock market are actually not big influences on the economy or stock market in Vietnam and while we are significant trading partners, much of our outcomes are decoupled and should be evaluated independently.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been on everyone’s mind.  It has been two weeks since the invasion and we have been closely monitoring the impact of the war on the global financial markets, and importantly on Vietnam’s economy. In today’s piece, VinaCapital’s Chief Economist, Michael Kokalari, shares his insights on the impact of rising oil and commodity prices and why we adjust our earlier views on inflation and GDP growth.  We believe that despite increased market volatility, the impact of this war for Vietnam will be muted and presents an opportunity for active managers, like VinaCapital, to find excellent investment opportunities.