Sunday, April 20, 2008

Ministry to ease rules on wealthy foreign investment fund managers


Foreigners with at least US$300 million to invest would be allowed to establish wholly foreign-owned fund management companies in Viet Nam, under a regulation drafted by the Ministry of Finance and recently submitted to the Government for approval.
Foreign fund management firms seeking to set up a branch domestically would be required to have a capital of $500 million or more, according to the draft.
Such newly-opened companies or branches would only be authorised to provide asset management services for foreign traders on the domestic stock market.
"The draft will become a basis for the finance ministry and other market regulators to manage the business of foreign fund management companies," said Hoang Phong, a partner with the Thanh Ninh law firm.
The draft regulation, if approved, would help attract more overseas capital to the local stock exchange, he said.
The draft would also allow wholly foreign-invested fund management companies to merge with or acquire local companies, although branches of overseas firms would require authorisation to do so from their parent firms.
Partially foreign-invested fund management fund would also be allowed to reorganise into a wholly foreign-invested domestic companies, the draft provides.

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