Jaccar is a personal holding company created from scratch in 1980, with the purchase, through debt financing, of shares of French group Bourbon. The company, which manages three funds focusing on the Vietnamese market, held an investment promotion event in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi this week to attract international financial institutions. Thanh Nien Weekly spoke to Jaccar founder Jacques de Chateauvieux about the current market situation.

The global crisis scared many investors, especially about investing abroad. Why would they be interested in Vietnam now?

The reality today is that money is kept around the world. People were scared by the crisis. They took their money out of investment. They wanted to hold on to their cash. And when they did that, after six months, they felt happy because they hadn’t lost money. But after a year, they see the return is very low as interest rates are less than one percent for US dollars and euros. Then they change their minds and think they should invest in something different or they are wasting their time and money.

It is the right time for them to put their money in something and we thought of Vietnam, an emerging country in Asia, as a good place. I have been in Vietnam for 15 years and understand the market. The word for crisis in Chinese means both danger and opportunity. I like the meaning. The crisis has brought harm and it would bring opportunities to investors as well.

The promotion focused on listed companies in stock exchanges in HCMC and Hanoi, and not others. Why?

The participants invited to our first-ever investment promotion were financial institutions from around the globe, mainly from Europe and the US. They are fund managers, bankers and brokers experienced in financial, banking and stock markets. They live in London, Paris, California, Japan, [South] Korea and Singapore. Maybe they’ve never come to Vietnam before. It is the right time for them to come here and study its economy and local businesses. Some people that I talked to said they did not know about the stock market in Vietnam but could they check information on the Internet if they want to invest. I answered it was ok for them to do this. However, how will they invest if they did not see and talk directly to managers who will receive their money?

Why listed companies? The answer is that these are financial investors who are interested in shares and seeking opportunities in stock markets around the globe. Vietnam’s stock market is recovering from the crisis. Look at the volume and index in the market. Until four months ago, the volume was low but now it’s higher. The volume speaks to the attractiveness of the market as liquidity is high for investors. Financial investors care about liquidity. They are willing to put their money in a market where they can withdraw in two months rather than a market with two years of liquidity. If liquidity is retained at the same level, I think the market will be more attractive in the coming years. It is a turning point for the Vietnamese stock market. I think the investors may fall in love with Vietnam as I did.

An international fund, Indochina Capital, has withdrawn from the Vietnamese market, but Jaccar has stayed on. Does this prove that the market is still attractive?

I do not have enough information about [Indochina Capital] so I do not have any comment about the disinvestment. Following on from Bourbon’s presence in Vietnam since 1995, Jaccar, its principal shareholder, has developed through direct investment in Vietnamese companies and three investment funds devoted to Vietnam. We launched two closed funds with a total US$250 million in 2006 and 2007 while the other is a smaller open fund in 2008. We invested in listed and private equity businesses in sea products, infrastructure, industrial parks and real estate. We plan to extend the size of the open fund and establish another fund in coming years. Our investments in Vietnam account for 20 percent of Jaccar’s total capital while those in China account for 40 percent and the rest are in other markets.

A fund is said to be a success story if its size has doubled in three years. We did it in Vietnam. I think it is extremely successful as we did it in less than three years. The Vietnamese market has become more and more professional, and more mature. Information is available and easy to access. We will see more mergers, capital reproduction and convertible bonds in the market. Local businesses need capital to develop and need financial investors. The investors also want opportunities in the country.

What advice would you give investors interested in Vietnam?

If they want to come for six months, they should not come to Vietnam. They should be patient. I have been in Vietnam for a long time and known what patience means. Patience and taking decisions at the right time are two things an investor should think of when doing business here.

Reported by Minh Quang