An investment firm focused on Vietnam and the Mekong Delta region is planning a fund listing on the LSE.

Vietnam-focused investment specialist firm Dragon Capital intends to list its flagship fund on the main market of the London Stock Exchange, it said yesterday.

The fund is called Vietnam Enterprise Investments Limited, with a net asset value of around $850 billion. The firm is undertaking the listing to create a more transparent and liquid market in the fund’s shares, widening ownership and analyst coverage, and reducing the current discount to NAV in the share price.

An extraordinary general meeting about the listing will be held by the fund on 21 June. Dragon Capital expects admission to trading of VEIL's shares will take place in early July.

The firm is aiming for VEIL to become "a key vehicle for exposure to Vietnam given its size and equity-only investment mandate, appealing to both institutional and retail investors”. About half of VEIL's net asset value is represented by stocks which are at their foreign ownership limits and cannot otherwise be accessed by foreign investors, it said.

Dragon Capital’s executive chairman, Dominic Scriven – who has spoken at events organised by this news service – said the firm’s decision to float the fund was triggered by demand from a range of investors.

Vietnam’s profile has changed considerably from a few decades before, when memories of conflict in that country were still raw. According to data for 2015, its gross domestic product rose 6.7 per cent and the country boasts strong foreign direct investment inflows, as well as being poised to capitalise on a recent free trade pact with the European Union and the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership. 

Dragon Capital was founded in 1994 and oversees $1.3 billion in assets across a range of classes.