Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE: BEN) has announced the acquisition of a 49% stake in Vietcombank Fund Management. Vietcombank is an investment management firm that has currently focused on private equity investment in Vietnam. The remaining 51% of VCBF will continue to be owned by Vietcombank, the Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam.
This almost sounds like a reverse sovereign equity fund investment if you think about it. Franklin Resources operates as Franklin Templeton Investments, and this appears to be its first venture in Vietnam with a local management company. Franklin Templeton said it also intends to partner with Vietcombank in an effort to make Franklin Templeton investment funds available at some point to Vietnamese investors.
As Franklin Templeton manages over $600 billion, this will be a small drop in the bucket for the company regardless of the cost of this venture. But what may ultimately come from this is a pure-play vehicle for Americans to invest in Vietnamese public or private companies. That part may be a ways off, but it will be welcomed as overall ETF's, closed-end funds, and open-end mutual funds offer very few options to invest directly into Vietnam.
Franklin Templeton heads to Vietnam
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