Son Nam Nguyen, former managing director and head of Vietnam investment banking for Citigroup, has started, with a number of partners, Vietnam Capital Partners Limited, which they are billing as Vietnam's largest independent investment bank.
So far the firm has 16 people, including investment bankers, lawyers and accountants. Ten of those are on the ground in Vietnam, while six partners will be based in overseas markets.
"We are the most experienced team in Vietnam -- the principals have decades of combined experience in global investment banking, and have executed over $40 billion of deals globally," says Son of the venture. "We have built an extensive network of relationships with international investors, as well as Vietnam corporates, local government and investors."
The firm will focus on four key areas: (1) to partner with foreign investment banks to assist global clients with an interest in Vietnam; (2) partner with foreign investment banks to advise Vietnamese clients on accessing global investors and partners; (3) advise foreign funds and corporates interested in Vietnam; and (4) advise corporates and local funds on fundraisings, M&A, and joint ventures.
"As Vietnam continues its growth, Vietnam Capital Partners Ltd intends to become the bridge between international capital and Vietnam," says Son.
Son was born in Vietnam, but left in 1975 after the war ended, and graduated from Harvard Business School in 1995. He joined Salomon Brothers as an associate in 1995 in New York and has been based in Asia since 1999. He was formerly a vice-president in the financial institutions group, and made the rank of managing director in Citi's Asia-Pacific technology investment banking in Hong Kong. Son is one of the most experienced investment bankers in Asia to be based in Vietnam.
Several foreign banks -- from Credit Suisse to J.P. Morgan and HSBC -- and quasi-foreign/homegrown fund managers such as VinaCapital, as well as local banks like Sacombank, do stand out for offering advice to foreign and local investors. But it is clear there's still room in advisory -- especially when you consider that the outlook for the Vietnamese economy remains highly uncertain.
Earlier this month, prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung said that the national economy would pick up and could achieve between 5% and 5.5% growth this year, down from an earlier estimate of 6.5%. But as Moody's pointed out in an April 27 report, "Even this downgraded estimate appears overly optimistic. The economy recorded its slowest growth rate on record during the first quarter -- a mere 3.1% year-on-year -- prompting the International Monetary Fund to further downgrade its forecast for Vietnam's growth in 2009 to 3.3% in its World Economic Outlook released last week."
According to Son, this is a great opportunity to enter investment banking in Vietnam, especially for deals less than $100 million which the larger banks do not focus on. In the past few years, the unprecedented growth of liquidity in local bank loans and funds has provided most of the investment capital in Vietnam. With the Vietnam-focused funds almost fully invested and having difficulties raising funds, and local banks facing significantly slower loan growth, capital in Vietnam has gone from abundant to scarce. Also, a number of large global investment banks have pulled back due to global deleveraging and cost cutting. These conditions are ripe for smaller investment banks to foster, especially those that have global relationships, credibility and execution experience.
