Private equity optimism falls: survey

Illustrative image (Photo: enternews.vn)

HCM City (VNA) - A survey of the private-equity sector in July by consulting firm Grant Thornton found that 72 percent of respondents (down 14 percentage points from six months ago) anticipated higher level of investment activities in Vietnam in the next 12 months.

The number of respondents participating in the bi-annual survey, all decision makers in the PE sector in and outside Vietnam, was not disclosed.

With respect to sources of transactions, it is notable that private/family-owned entities have come back to be the most significant source of deals, as 33 percent of the participants agreed.

The retail and food and beverages (F&B) sectors continued to be the two most attractive sectors for PE transactions.

But PE investors are increasingly interested in the education sector, with its rating of "very attractive" increasing by 16 percentage points from the previous survey.

The survey emphasised that “economic growth” and “Sector specific opportunities” continued to be critical to deal success.

"Differences in valuation expectations" and “non-disclosure of material items at the appropriate time” topped the list of factors contributing to deal failure.

PE investors seeing Vietnam as “attractive” and “more attractive” accounted for the largest proportion, 69 percent, an increase of 10 percentage points from H2 2015.-VNA