VietNam Holdings (VNH)

VNH is one of three London-listed investment companies targeting the high-growth potential of frontier market Vietnam. Launched in 2006, VNH invests in high-growth companies in Vietnam, focusing on domestic consumption, industrialisation and urbanisation. Latest results show its concentrated approach helped it beat its benchmark in a difficult year for the country’s main index, which remains one of the world’s cheapest markets despite its significant growth prospects. The company is not held in the portfolios but these occasional interviews with other respected managers seek to aid investment perspective. In this interview Craig Martin, chairman of Dynam Capital which took over the management of VNH in 2018, talks to us about how China’s extended shutdown has accelerated the expansion of Vietnam’s high-tech manufacturing industries; the rising intellectual capacity of Vietnam, supported by the county’s investment in STEM education; the opportunities presented by growing levels of urbanisation and wealth, and the growth of the Vietnamese consumer; and the hurdles faced in driving the country’s industrial development in the face of Net Zero challenges.