Share buyback and market update

RNS Number : 3769V

VinaCapital Vietnam Opp. Fund Ld

27 October 2014

 



27 October 2014

VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Limited

Share buyback

VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund Ltd ('VOF', the 'Company') announces that on 24 October 2014, pursuant to the share buyback authority granted to the Company's Board of Directors on 25 October 2011 and in accordance with the terms referenced in the share buyback programme update announcement on 13 August 2014, Visaka Holdings Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, purchased 725,000 Ordinary Shares of USD0.01 each at an average price of USD2.66 per share.

Following this transaction, VOF has spent USD184.1 million overall repurchasing 92,984,983 shares which are held as treasury shares and have reduced the total voting rights in the Company to 231,625,276. The total number of shares acquired since November 2011 represents 28.65 percent of the Company's 324,610,259 ordinary shares in issue. As a result of the Company's share buyback programme, VOF has recorded USD0.41 in cumulative accretion, equating to a 13.2 percent benefit to VOF's net asset value per share.

Investment Manager update on the market in Vietnam:

Mr. Ha Van Tham, the former Chairman of Ocean Bank and board member of Vietnam Dairy (VNM) who resigned in March of this year; and the current Chairman of the Ocean Group, was taken into custody over the weekend. Several news reports state that his arrest stems from the approval of an inappropriate loan worth USD25million (VND500 billion) without collateral.

The Ocean Group (OGC) is a holding company with assets in various sectors including grocery stores, media, real estate, hospitality, and banking including a 20 percent stake in Ocean Bank. OGC's market cap before the scandal broke was approximately USD170 million, but has since fallen almost 15 percent in the wake of this news. Press sources claim Mr. Tham owns 1 percent of the unlisted Ocean Bank directly and another 20+ percent indirectly. VOF is not invested in OGC, Ocean Bank, or any of their subsidiaries.

We believe his arrest could have a limited negative impact on the market as well as VOF's listed assets. However, we are vigilant that there may be an indirect impact on other companies that engage in commercial activity with OGC and/or Ocean Bank. The impact could be a degradation of their balance sheet and/or share price. We will issue further statements as events warrant.

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

Enquiries:

David Dropsey

VinaCapital Investment Management Limited

Investor Relations/Communications

[phone]

[e-mail]

Philip Secrett

Grant Thornton UK LLP, Nominated Adviser

[phone]

[e-mail]

Hiroshi Funaki / Andrew Davies

Edmond de Rothschild Securities, Broker

[phone]

[e-mail]  

David Benda / Hugh Jonathan

Numis Securities Limited, Broker

[phone]

[e-mail]

Andrew Walton

FTI Consulting, Public Relations (London)

[phone]

[e-mail]

 

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