VOF investee Pho 24 expands t

RNS Number : 5675Y

VinaCapital Vietnam Opp. Fund Ld

04 September 2009

 



4 September 2009

RNS Reach

VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Limited

VOF investee Pho 24 expands to Europe

Ho Chi Minh City - VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Limited ('the Company' or 'VOF'), an AIM-quoted investment vehicle focused on Vietnam, announces today that its investee company Pho 24, a popular fast-food restaurant, has signed a franchise deal to open restaurants in the UK.

VOF owns a 32.5 percent equity stake in Pho 24, Vietnam's most popular noodle brand with a chain of restaurants that spreads across Vietnam and other Asian nations including Singapore, Cambodia, South Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines and Australia.

Pho 24 has signed a franchise deal with Leisure Space Group, under which the UK partner will open 30 restaurants within the next 15 years. The first of these will open on 18 October 2009 at a commercial centre in London. Pho 24 then plans to launch the brand in other European countries. In June, the enterprise signed a franchise contract with Rich Base to open restaurants in Hong Kong over the next ten years. Pho 24 currently has 59 restaurants in Vietnam and 11 abroad.

'We are very pleased with the overseas expansion of this investee company, and are certain that Pho 24 will prove as popular in Europe as it has in Asia,' says Andy Ho, Managing Director of VOF's Investment Manager.

'Pho, or beef noodle soup, is Vietnam's most-treasured national dish. Pho 24 is therefore not merely a restaurant chain, but a reflection of Vietnam's growth and emergence as a country exporting brands and products around the world. I look forward to my first bowl of pho in London,' Andy says.

Notes to Editors:

VinaCapital Group is a leading asset management, investment banking and real estate consulting firm with unrivalled experience in the Vietnamese market. VinaCapital Group was founded in 2003 and has grown from a single USD10 million fund to a diversified investment firm with over USD1.6 billion in assets under management as of July 2009. 

VinaCapital Investment Management Ltd manages three closed-end funds trading on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market (AIM). These are: 

• Vietnam Opportunity Fund (VOF) is a USD706 million diversified investment fund that has consistently been among the top performing Vietnam funds. 

• VinaLand Limited (VNL) is a USD669 million real estate fund that was the top performing Vietnam investment fund in 2008.  

• Vietnam Infrastructure Limited (VNI) is a USD250 million fund established in July 2007 as the first fund to invest solely in Vietnam's infrastructure sector.

VinaCapital also co-manages the USD32 million DFJ VinaCapital technology venture capital fund with Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and owns a dominant stake in VinaSecurities JSC, a brokerage. More information is available at www.vinacapital.com. 

More information on VOF is available at www.vinacapital.com/vof

Enquiries:

Ms Chi Nguyen

VinaCapital Investment Management Limited

Investor Relations

[phone]
[e-mail]

Philip Secrett

Grant Thornton Corporate Finance, Nominated Adviser

[phone]
[e-mail]

Hiroshi Funaki [phone]

LCF Edmond de Rothschild Securities, Broker
[e-mail]

Alastair Hetherington

Financial Dynamics, Public Relations (Hong Kong)

[phone]
[e-mail]

David Cranmer

Financial Dynamics, Public Relations (London)

[phone]
[e-mail]

 

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