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Vietnam will overcome problems, says Prudential official
The government “clearly understands” the country’s financial problems and will manage them, a Prudential Vietnam senior executive has said.
Alex Hambly, who helps oversee assets worth US$1.4 billion in Vietnam as a board director at Prudential Vietnam Fund Management Company in Ho Chi Minh City, said the future “remains bright.”
“Our view is [financial problems are] being managed. We respect the government and the way they’re approaching it,” he said Wednesday in an interview with Bloomberg News.
“They clearly understand where the problems are, and are taking relatively tough measures to address them. They understand the need for pain to deal with the specter of inflation.”
He said, however, there were still two “unknowns,” which were “what’s going on in the banking sector and how healthy are the banks, and what’s going to happen in the rest of the world.”
But Hambly believes the government will “manage their way through.”
“There’ll be some bumps and bruises along the way, but we still believe that over the medium- to long-term the future remains bright.”
He went on to comment about his own company’s performance.
Stocks
“We divide the markets between private equity and public equity. Even though public equities have come down, we’ve had a great run up. Given where public equities are now and our short-term view, we’re obviously cautious on public equity. We’ve probably sold more than we bought.
“Within the private equity asset class, we remain very bullish. If you’re a longer-term investor, private equity is a longer-term asset class, so it fits more with what we’re trying to do.
“Secondly, there are a range of opportunities within private equity that public equity investors can’t access. You can access at a better price and you can keep better control on the terms, the structure and the ways in which you invest.
“Thirdly, liquidity is critical. Because you have greater control of your destiny, you also have greater control on your exit because the liquidity options are more. Rather than sell through the stock market, you can either sell through structured investments or you can sell through strategic investments.”
Bonds
“We have big exposure to debt, primarily government bonds and some exposure to corporate bonds. The current thinking is that bond rates are quite high. Five-year bonds trade at 17 percent. We think rates are going to soften.”
Thanhnien
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