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Last Updated: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 10:58:01 Vietnam (GMT+07)


VinaCapital beefing up investment: hotel, new fund, new resort


The London-listed VinaCapital officially announced Tuesday that it had bought a 70 percent stake in Ho Chi Minh City’s Omni Saigon Hotel for US$21 million as part of a plan to invest in the country’s property market.
Its two London-listed funds, VinaLand and the Vietnam Opportunity Fund (VOF), have picked up 52.5 percent and 17.5 percent of the shares respectively, according to the VinaCapital website.

The remaining stakes are owned by HCMC-based firm Vietnam YouthCo but it is not known who sold the 70 percent stake to VinaCapital.

The Omni Saigon Hotel began its operations in 1992. Located on Nguyen Van Troi Street, which links the Tan Son Nhat International Airport and the city downtown, the hotel, with 248 rooms and apartments, has consistently enjoyed high occupancy rates.

In August last year, the two funds paid a combined $43 million to acquire a 70 percent stake in the Hilton Opera Hanoi, which is among the most profitable hotels in the capital.

Additionally, VinaCapital holds a 29 percent stake in the century-old Sofitel Metropole Hanoi, another top hotel in the Vietnamese capital.

New fund

The fund manger is also launching a new fund for investment in Vietnam's rapidly growing infrastructure sector, seeking to raise US$200 million in first fundraising exercise this month.

The Vietnam Infrastructure Limited (VIL) will seek admission to the Alternative Investments Market (AIM) on the London Stock Exchange.

VIL will invest in Vietnam's infrastructure framework through a portfolio of infrastructure assets in key economic regions. It will be Vietnam's first fund fully dedicated to investment in this rapidly growing asset class.

VIL will focus on four key industries: energy, transport, water and telecommunications.

It seeks to achieve net returns of approximately 20 percent per annum from investment and has already identified a number of potential projects.

New resort

Recently, VinaCapital’s subsidiary Onshine Investment Limited joined forces with Sai Thanh International Investment and Tourism JSC to develop a $16 million high-end resort project in the central province of Quang Nam.

Accor Group’s five-star brand Sofitel – one of the world’s leading hotel managers – will be hired to run the Hoi An Royal Bay resort.

Work on the project will begin soon and be completed within 30 months.

Established in 2003, VinaCapital now manages three funds with a total corpus of $1.4 billion: the $800 million VOF, the $600 million Vinaland - both listed on London Stock Exchange, and the $50 million DFJ VinaCapital L.P., which invests in information and communication technology firms.

Reported by Tr.Binh – Compiled by Dong Ha