A customer at a branch of ACB in Hà Nội. ACB accounted for 4.9 per cent of VOF’s total net asset value (NAV) at the end of October, equivalent to nearly US$46.3 million. — Photo vietnambiz.vn

HÀ NỘI — VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund (VOF), the flagship fund of VinaCapital, announced that Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) had become its 5th largest investment.

VOF said it continued to buy more shares of ACB in October. This is the 6th largest bank by market capitalisation in Việt Nam and a leading commercial bank in the retail and small and medium enterprise (SME) segments. With its experience in the development of digital banking, VinaCapital said it would share such insights with ACB's leaders.

ACB accounted for 4.9 per cent of VOF’S total net asset value (NAV) at the end of October, equivalent to nearly US$46.3 million.

ACB is currently listed on the HNX but the bank has submitted an application to transfer listing to HoSE in mid-October.

VinaCapital expects the bank to be listed on HoSE in December 2020 or January 2021 and may enter the VN-30 basket, which consists of the 30 largest companies listed on HoSE in terms of market capitalisation.

According to the 9-month business report, ACB recorded pre-tax profit of VNĐ6.4 trillion ($227.1 million), 15 per cent higher than the same period in 2019, equivalent to 84 per cent of the 2020 plan. Post-tax profit reached VNĐ5.13 trillion.

ACB on November 18 also announced the signing of a 15-year exclusive bancassurance partnership with Sun Life Vietnam Insurance Co Ltd.

VOF’s total NAV reached nearly $945 million at the end of October, up 2 per cent from the previous month. In 10 months, the fund's NAV growth was 10.7 per cent, compared with the 2.3 per cent-decrease of VN-Index in the same period.

VOF attributed its positive performance to its persistent investments in industries with high resilience, especially companies that benefit from policies such as public investment and FDI inflows.

So far this year, construction material stocks recorded the best growth in prices of 44.7 per cent. Steel giant Hoà Phát Group (HPG) currently accounts for the largest proportion of 15.7 per cent in VOF’s total net asset value (NAV), reporting growth of 59 per cent.

Consumer goods stocks ranked second with an increase of 8 per cent since the beginning of the year, as evidenced by Vinamilk (VNM) increasing 14.5 per cent and accounting for 4.4 per cent of VOF’s NAV. — VNS