VinaCapital: Vietnam remains attractive destination to foreign investors

Rebuilding trust pays positive dividends - VinaCapital’s CEO Don Lam talks about how his company has performed and what it plans for the future

The Asia Asset Management “Best of the Best” fund management awards are in its seventh year. There are a wide range of categories, including the “best fund house” award for each country in the region. I don’t know what other fund managers applied for the awards, but we are very happy to receive the recognition as it puts our brand alongside other winners from world-renowned companies like JP Morgan Asset Management, HSBC Asset Management, and Franklin Templeton, as well as country-level fund managers like Mirae from South Korea and Singapore’s UOB.

My understanding is that the award for “best fund house” has a number of criteria, from overall market share and net assets raised, to the depth of the investment team and client servicing. For VinaCapital, in addition to demonstrating the rapid growth of our net asset base and our investment results, we were able to demonstrate the important role VinaCapital has taken in educating private and institutional investors around the world on the opportunities available in the Vietnamese market. Our slogan is “taking Vietnam to the world” and this helps define our approach to working with investors.

I believe we have a very good track record of investor relations, including updating our fund shareholders and reaching out to other potential investors. Our participation in the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, for example, is evidence of this approach. We were the first Vietnam-based company to join the WEF and we lobbied extensively for the WEF regional meeting that will be held in Ho Chi Minh City this year.

We are happy to be involved in this effort, and I believe Asia Asset Management did consider this broader approach to business growth when selecting its country-level winners.

How about VinaCapital’s performance last year and its plans in 2010?

VinaCapital like all asset managers over the last 12 months faced the important challenge of rebuilding investor trust following the global financial market crisis of 2008. It’s not a pleasant number to bring up, but during the financial crisis of 2008 VinaCapital’s asset under management declined by about 25 per cent.

This was actually a strong performance compared to many fund managers, but for 2009 our goal was to demonstrate to our shareholders that we remain in a position to make good investments and to grow their money. We announced several deals over the past year – such as the Masan equity sale and the Hilton Hanoi hotel sale – that helped demonstrate to our investors that our funds were still holding high-value assets.

For 2009, VinaCapital was able to increase the combined net asset value of its funds by 6.6 per cent, which is an acceptable result given the difficult investment environment.

For 2010, our main objective is to increase the share prices of our funds, as they are still trading at a discount to the underlying net asset values. The issue here is essentially investor confidence in the market. When a fund trades at a discount, the market is essentially expressing doubt over the published value of the fund’s holdings.

Fund managers can respond in many ways – by selling assets as needed to generate income, and possible issue a dividend or buy back shares to lift the share price. We are currently reviewing all options available to our funds and will update our shareholders as soon as possible.

In terms of investing strategy, nothing has changed – we aim to buy into good companies and projects, help improve their operations or develop the assets, then exit in a manner that will generate a return for both our Vietnamese partners and our shareholders.

How do you foresee the investment opportunities in Vietnam in the years to come and does VinaCapital have any plans for raising new funds?

The domestic economy is growing at a healthy rate in 2010 and we expect to see deals across a range of sectors. In real estate, we have several important initiatives to bring a new quality standard to the residential market. We recently announced the VinaProjects joint venture to manage the development and construction of our real estate projects, and other interesting announcements in this area will follow soon.

In equities, there are a broad range of sectors that we are interested in, including health care, financial services, education and certain types of agribusiness.

As for new funds, we intend to raise a new unlisted real estate fund this year, which will target institutional investors that do not invest in listed companies, such as our current real estate fund VinaLand Limited. As an unlisted fund, the new offering will attract a different type of investor from our existing funds, which are listed.

Some institutional investors do not invest in listed funds, so we are just creating an opportunity for investors who otherwise would have few options to invest in Vietnam.

"VinaCapital Group is one of the largest foreign investor in Vietnam's real estate market, with considerable local knowledge and experience. The VinaCapital conference which was held on Oct. 25 -27, 2009 in Hanoi attracted more than 200 foreign investors and business leaders who wanted to know about Vietnam market and the investment opportunities in the coming up years. Attending the conference also was Mrs. Katherine Yip Geicke who is one of Asia's leading business women and is a Founding Partner and Advisor to the Board of VinaCapital; Professor Kenneth Courtis - former vice-president Goldman Sachs; Mr. Marc Townsend - CEO of CB Richard Ellis Vietnam; and VinaCapital Group leaders"

VinaCapital引領越南房地產市場

HO CHI MINH CITY, VinaCapital Group, Vietnam's leading asset management and real estate development firm, and inProjects Group, Asia's leading independent project management company, are pleased to announce the launch of VinaProjects, a joint venture company.
VinaProjects is a real estate services company offering project and construction management, urban planning, and facilities management services to the Vietnamese market. VinaProjects aims to provide a world-class standard of service for real estate investors and developers in Vietnam, including VinaCapital Group.



VinaProjects was established in January 2010 and has already begun the delivery of landmark urban development projects valued at over USD500 million in cities across Vietnam, including Hanoi, Danang, and Ho Chi Minh City. VinaProjects has three divisions - project management, urban planning, and facilities management - staffed by highly skilled professionals with substantial international and domestic experience.
VinaCapital is one of the largest foreign investor in Vietnam's real estate market, with considerable local knowledge and experience. The VinaCapital conference which was held on Oct. 25 -27, 2009 in Hanoi attracted more than 200 foreign investors and business leaders who wanted to know about Vietnam market and the investment opportunities in the coming up years. Attending the conference also was Mrs. Katherine Yip Geicke who is one of Asia's leading business women and is a Founding Partner and Advisor to the Board of VinaCapital, former vice-president Goldman Sachs, the Deutsches Bank manager - Mr. Marc Townsend, and VinaCapital Group leaders.



Don Lam, VinaCapital CEO, comments: “VinaCapital has a significant number of major real estate projects located across Vietnam, and we must ensure all of these projects are delivered with world-class results. We want the next generation of urban and resort developments in Vietnam to be at the same standard as see in cities across Asia and the world. We look forward to working with the inProjects team to help raise the standard of project delivery in Vietnam.”

Guinness World Record Holder teaches Yoga at Planet Yoga Hong Kong

If you haven't attended a class with Yogaraj C.P of Planet Yoga yet, other members will gladly tell you what you have been missing! Just try to walk in to his Hot Yoga class on a weeknight and you will see about 50 people lining up to go into the steamy room. Yes he is that good, and here is a glimpse why.

Hello Yogaraj! What is this we hear about you being in the Guinness World Records?
Yes, I am very honored to have represented my country and achieved the longest yoga marathon in the Guinness World Records. Essentially, it was a yoga marathon that lasted for 28 hours. I performed a total of 1,019 asanas positions!!

WOW, and here we thought your 90 minute Hot Yoga class was LONG. We were also told that you just came back form a Yoga Competition not too long ago?
Yes. I just came back from the 17^th International Yoga Festival actually. I represented Planet Yoga in the competition. (see photos below). I performed Agro Yoga, participated in a Group demonstration and won 1^st place in the competition! I am so honoured and humbled to be featured in top newspapers including Dinamani, Dinamalar and Tamil Murusu and Daily Thanthi in Puducherry, India.

How long have you been participating in competitions?
Well, I started to practice Yoga at a very young age. It started with my father demonstrating the walking Lotus to me--it is a very fun and entertaining pose and I do this with my students a lot now as a warm up. But then my father passed away when I was still young and I stopped practicing for a while. As I got older , i remembered that my father practiced Yoga a lot in order to stay fit during his service in the Army. He was stationed in a very cold part of India, up by the Himalayas. I picked up the practice of Yoga again when I was about 12 years old. I won my first award--- Best Demonstrator Award at the 5th International Yoga festival when I was 14.

It must be so exciting to travel around the world to participate in yoga competitions!
I truly love traveling the world and seeing how different people can embrace Yoga into their lives. I loved teaching yoga in China and Taiwan because for a yoga teacher, it is so rewarding to introduce the practice to places where people don't know as much about it and where it is still quite a new hobby and sport.

There is no question that you are a very experienced Yogi. What are you looking to accomplish in the upcoming future?
I think I am most interested in teaching yoga to kids and youth. I received my first yoga lesson (apart from demonstrations by my father) when I was about 12 years old. I still remember very clearly how great I felt when I was able to do the walking handstand my teacher taught me. I think that Yoga is an excellent way to inspire confidence and built postive self esteem. There is a great sense of pride and accomplishment that comes with being able to perform different Yoga poses and I think that it is something very important and valuable to instill in youth today.

Finally, What does Real Yoga mean to you?
Real Yoga, to me, means introducing traditional yoga to people. Whether it is the postures and practice itself or the philosophy behind it.

Thank you so much Master Yogaraj C.P for speaking to us. Namaste.

Planet Yoga: New Blog!!! Meet Yogi Moises of Planet Yoga Hong Kong!!

So, how did you become a yogi?

My grandma was a yoga teacher in Mexico; she was very into vegetarianism and spirituality--she actually went to learn yoga India in 1971! I grew up seeing her teach private classes in our home.

Also,my mother ran a detox clinic where she helped people with alcohol and drug addictions by giving them treatment.

I saw daily how people transformed and got healthier through meditation and exercise. I was especially surprised about the physical difference I witnessed in them.

That is very interesting. Did you knew when you were very young that you wanted to help people by becoming a yogi?

Not immediately no. I did a lot of soul searching first. I went to a Jewish school in Mexico--where I come from; and after I graduated high school I went to live and work in Israel for 8 months. I worked as a farmer!

I think that experience gave me the time to really think about what I wanted to do and how I wanted to live my life. I think that is when I knew I wanted to become a yoga teacher.
Also, it really helped to keep me grounded as a person. From working on the farm and cooking for myself, I also became very interested in eating healthy and wholesome foods.

Can you give us some simple fitness tips?

Actually when I was younger I was very into body building and contemporary dance! Especially in dance, we did a lot of yoga moves to work on our flexibility and help us warm up before a routine.

I did find that I got quite stiff from lifting weights and you build a different kind of muscle. Bodybuilding builds stiff and bulky muscles, while yoga is good for leaner muscles.

My advice is to do activities that you find fun, whether it is Power Yoga or Bollywood Dancing! It is important to enjoy the activity because that is the only way you would be motivated to continue.

Very true, do a lot of your students prefer classes at Planet Yoga because they get bored at the gym?

That is a common reason many members prefer taking classes here--there is a good variety of classes from more aerobic intensive styles like Ashtanga to Hatha Flow where the poses are dynamic but not as challenging. They are never bored because there are so many classes they can try out!

Also, yoga trains us to stay present and gain awareness--that is why the focus on breathing is always emphasized. So many people go to the gym only to distract themselves with videos, music or even their phone! When practicing yoga, I always remind my students to pay attention to how their body and muscles feel.

We heard that you have a strict diet where you ate mostly raw and vegan food. What are some foods we should add or limit so we could stay healthy?

I would suggest eating less sugar, processed food, red meat and fried food. Some great foods to add to your diet are raw green leaves in salads, fresh juices, almonds and dates. People in Hong Kong are very busy---dried fruit and nuts are a very convinent snack that is also extremely good for your body!

Finally, what does real yoga mean to you?Real yoga is a place where everyone can become aware of who we are as a being. Where we can be unafraid of opening our heart, our mind and our body.

Namaste