The US investment group Global Emerging Markets (GEM) is seeking opportunities to invest in Vietnam to take advantage of the country’s growth potential thanks to its young population, said Chris Brown, GEM President.

Brown held that with a large and young population, the 90 million-strong Vietnamese market has abundant development potential and plentiful investment opportunities.

Earlier this month, GEM successfully posted nearly 20 million exchange stocks between the US Mass Noble Investments Limited and Vietnam’s Duc Long Gia Lai Group (DLG) with a price of 12,500 VND (0.57 USD) per share and a rate of 1:1.4, said Brown.

With this transaction, the DLG has become the first firm to buy a foreign company through exchanging stocks, officially owning Mass Noble and the ANSEN factory in China .

So far, GEM has announced investments in four Vietnamese firms, including the FLC Group, Hoang Huy Group, Duc Long Gia Lai Group and Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group.

According to Brown, GEM plans to continue buying more than 10 million DLG shares to increase its ownership. By transferring Mass Noble to Duc Long Gia Lai, GEM has become the largest foreign shareholder of the firm, which makes Brown a member of the group’s Board of Directors.

As scheduled, GEM will own more than 20 percent of Duc Long Gia Lai’s shares in the future.

GEM is a 3.4 billion alternative investment group that manages a diverse set of investment vehicles focusing on emerging markets across the world. The group has invested in 305 companies in 65 countries.-VNA