Roar: Dragon Capital brings Vietnam investment opportunity to the world – via London
The London Stock Exchange today welcomes a new entrant at a time when several firms are understood to be postponing and calling off flotations after the UK’s Brexit vote.
The flagship fund of investment management company Dragon Capital, Vietnam Enterprise Investments Limited (VEIL), today begins trading on the main market with a launch price of 250p. As part of the move, the fund is delisting from the Irish Stock Exchange.
“Essentially what we’re doing is bringing Vietnam to the world – via London,” Dragon Capital’s chairman Dominic Scriven told City PM
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He revealed that the company considered listing the fund on markets in Hong Kong, Singapore and New York, but chose London.
“You put those together and you can’t improve on the LSE proposition, a truly global exchange,” he added.
Scriven estimated that the fund has a market capitalisation of $900m (£680m) and describes it as “the biggest investor in the [Vietnamese] stock market after the Vietnamese government”.
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In recent days, it has emerged that the likes of Hollywood Bowl and NewDay have put off initial public offerings (IPOs) on the London Stock Exchange, with last month’s Brexit vote causing uncertainity.
But Scriven said this was not an issue for Dragon.
“Our pressure point has been to do it as early as possible,” he said. “And we knew… it was going to be late June and then we go ‘oh, there’s a Brexit vote’.” Therefore, the listing was pushed back to the first week of July.
Jefferies International acted as the sole financial adviser and sponsor for VEIL.
Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of London Stock Exchange plc, said:
Welcoming Dragon Capital’s flagship fund, Vietnam Enterprise Investments Limited (VEIL), to London Stock Exchange’s main market today demonstrates London’s enduring ability to finance a variety of issuers from across the world. With over 500 international companies listed across our markets, with a combined market capitalisation of over $3.5 trillion, London continues to serve as the world’s leading international financial market.
VEIL is the largest Vietnamese focussed fund to list on London Stock Exchange in 2016 – a significant success, not just for the company and London, but also Vietnam, demonstrating that Vietnamese companies can attract the attention of the world’s largest institutional investors.