Emerging Markets
Asia's Evergreen Targets Cambodia, Other Southeast Asia Markets

The planned fund is designed to focus on Cambodia first and later other "Indochina" markets such as Vietnam and Myanmar.
Asia-based Evergreen
Assets Management has engaged the Singapore-registered firm
Passion
Venture Capital to set up a new fund, with the aim of raising
up to S$100 million.
Passion Venture Capital is licensed by the Monetary
Authority of Singapore.
The new fund is a closed-end vehicle with a five-year timeframe,
and will initially concentrate on holding Cambodian assets,
tapping into Evergreen’s micro-financing business in the emerging
market, while a small portion of the monies will be invested in
its automotive business in Singapore. The fund’s geographic
allocation will be diversified later to cover more Indochina
countries such as Myanmar and Vietnam.
“The fund builds on Evergreen’s decades-long track record of
doing business in Indochina. While the fund is primarily focused
on Cambodia in the initial stage, we have a pipeline of
investments in Myanmar and Vietnam which would materialise in the
next 18 months. These investments will represent strong exposure
to the Indochinese economies,” David Yong, chief executive of
Evergreen AM, said.
Desmond Sim, business development director of Evergreen AM, said:
“We have already received commitments of approximately S$25
million from accredited investors who recognise the growth
opportunities in Indochina.”
Indochina growth
Evergreen AM has been awarded a financial institute licence to
conduct micro-financing by the National Bank of Cambodia, the
country’s central bank.
“The award of the FI licence in Cambodia comes at an opportune
time. As an entrepreneur, we empathise with the pains that small
and medium-sized companies are now facing – they are without cash
flow and credit -- critical business lifelines because of the
global COVID-19 pandemic,” Yong said.
“We hope our micro-finance business under Evergreen will
contribute to the growth of Cambodia where there is an urgent
need for financing to keep SMEs and individuals going. We also
intend to reach out to other demographic segments such as women
in Cambodia who are usually overlooked by banks, to empower them
to make their own livelihood,” Yong said.
Evergreen is also applying for financial institution licences in
Cambodia and Vietnam.
Team
The new fund is managed by Davy J Goh of Passion Venture Capital
Pte. Goh has worked with financial institutions such as CS First
Boston, Citibank NA, ABN AMRO Bank and DBS Bank across Asia in 16
countries including Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines,
Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.