Norway's $850 billion sovereign wealth fund is said to have handed out four Southeast Asian single-country equity portfolios worth some $1 billion in total in recent months.
The Ho Chi Minh City-based firm has launched what it says is Vietnam's first Ucits fund. It is mulling partnering with firms to offer third-party funds on its Ucits platform.
The recent change in tack comes amid other plans to liberalise Vietnam's financial markets. Meanwhile, the first locally listed exchange-traded funds are in the pipeline.
Frontier Investment & Development Partners is less upbeat than its former partner about the outlook for Vietnam and is raising a separate fund of its own.
Foreign investors must have exit strategies at all times to guard against the sudden risk of market liquidity grinding to a halt, says a fund manager in Ho Chi Minh City.
It is taking longer than planned for Vietnam's Dragon Capital to hit $50 million for its new private equity fund. Meanwhile, it is eyeing microfinance and plans to use Ucits to sell into Europe.