Retail sector tops private equity poll for investors

(15-05-2009)

HA NOI — Retail is the most attractive industry for private equity investment in Viet Nam this year, according to a new survey by Grant Thornton Viet Nam.

Conducted in March, the survey gauged the attitudes of 169 selected participants from a broad cross-section of the Vietnamese and foreign investment community, who were asked to rank the attractiveness of major sectors within Viet Nam as destinations for private equity investment.

Seventy per cent of respondents ranked retail as attractive, while health care and bio-technology joined retail as the only categories of investment to receive no negative ratings from those surveyed.

Matthew Lourey, corporate finance director at Grant Thornton, commented on the survey, saying, "The robustness of Viet Nam’s domestic economy and the opportunities that will arise as this sector is liberalised further make retail an attractive investment option."

Tourism and hospitality received the lowest rating of all the sectors, with only 23 per cent of respondents viewing it as attractive, preceded by manufacturing, at 26 per cent. About a third of respondents rated both sectors as negative.

The survey also found that the country’s administrative procedures and the lack of transparency in its legal system remained obstacles to investment.

Investors also complained that getting timely and accurate information about operations in Viet Nam was costly and difficult, and 24 per cent of respondents said weak corporate governance and the large number of family-operated businesses were a matter of concern.

Grant Thornton Viet Nam managing partner Ken Atkinson said that an increasing number of Viet Nam-based companies had already recognised this problem and were taking the opportunity during the global slowdown to improve corporate governance and reporting functions. — VNS

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