Australian financial firm sees surging interest in Vietnam investment

The company received six requests for project funding in February, but saw this figure surge to 20 last month, said Ranjit Thambyrajah, managing director of Acuity Funding.

Acuity Funding has been present in Vietnam for three years and has arranged a total of $5 billion in capital through both loans and investments in the country. Most of the capital has been used for property and infrastructure projects.

Thambyrajah said that there are signs that investors are returning to Vietnam’s property sector.

Some of the company’s customers in Vietnam are looking to buy projects in prime locations which are being sold only because of difficulties in the corporate bond market, he said.

Acuity Funding has been receiving a lot of funding for projects in different countries, including South Korea, India, Indonesia and Thailand, but among them Vietnam seems to have the biggest thirst for capital, especially among countries in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

The company has arranged $20 billion for the APEC region and Vietnam could potentially receive around half of that figure.

However, Thambyrajah said that there might be challenges in the flow of investment into Vietnam after banks in the United States and Credit Suisse are acquired.

Global investment banks might tighten their funding to deal with the crisis, he said.

Another challenge is a reduced confidence of investors in the bond and other risky assets, he added.