Mekong Capital

Mekong Capital

Type	Limited Liability
Industry	Private Equity
Founded	2001
Headquarters	Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Products	Growth Capital
Number of employees	25
Website	www.mekongcapital.com

Mekong Capital is a Vietnam-focused private equity firm. Operating in Vietnam since 2001, Mekong Capital is one of the first private equity firms to engage Vietnam, and has completed 30 private equity investments in Vietnam through 4 funds with approximately 25 full-time employees.^[1] Mekong Capital has offices in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi.^[2] Focusing on manufacturing companies until 2005, Mekong Capital shifted its focus towards consumer-driven businesses in 2006. Mekong Capital is known as a private equity firm that has invested significant resources in the development of its corporate culture,^[3] and in the corporate cultures of its portfolio companies, and is the subject of several case studies.^[4][5]

Mekong Capital won Private Equity International's Operational Improvement Award for Asian Small Caps for 2013, Private Equity International's Frontier Market Firm of the year for 2014 and Private Equity International's Operational Excellence Award 2015 for the Asia-Pacific Small Cap Category.^[6]

Mekong Capital was founded by Chris Freund^[7] in 2001. Chris Freund was formerly with Templeton Asset Management,^[8] based in Vietnam and Singapore, from 1995 to 2001.

Some of Mekong Capital's well known investments include:

• The Gioi Di Dong (MobileWorld)^[9] - Vietnam's largest mobile phone retail chain, with over 980 mobile phone stores and 122 large-format consumer electronics stores, and 39% market share nationwide;^[10]
• Vietnam Australia International Schools (VAS)^[11] - One of the largest K-12 private school chains in Vietnam, with 8 campuses for the 2016/2017 school year;
• Traphaco^[12] - The market share leader in the manufacturing, branding and distribution of traditional medicines and herbal supplements in Vietnam;
• Loc Troi Group^[13] - The largest distributor of plant protection chemicals in Vietnam, and a pioneer in vertically integrated rice processing in Vietnam;
• Phu Nhuan Jewelry^[14] - The largest jewelry retail chain in Vietnam, with over 200 stores;
• Asia Chemical Corp (ACC)^[15] - The largest locally owned specialty chemical distribution company in Vietnam.

Exits

Mekong Capital has achieved 19 complete exits of investments that were unlisted at the time of the original investment: Tan Dai Hung Plastic, Duc Thanh Wood Processing, Saigon Gas, Mai Son Retail, Masan Consumer, Minh Phuc Printing, International Consumption Products (ICP), AA Corporation, Goldsun JSC, Lac Viet Computing Corporation, Nam Hoa Wooden Toys, Digiworld, MK Smart, Ngo Han; Venture International, Golden Gate, FPT Corporation, Nam Long and Intresco

Mekong Capital's Divestment History^I

^IIncludes only investments that were unlisted at time of Fund's initial investment
^IIPartial exit

Mekong Capital is holding several other investments in companies that were unlisted at the time of the original investment and are now listed: Traphaco, Phu Nhuan Jewelry, Intresco and MobileWorld.

Funds

• Mekong Enterprise Fund, Ltd. - Launched in 2002, this fund focuses on private equity investments in Vietnamese SMEs, typically private family owned manufacturing businesses ^[16]
• Mekong Enterprise Fund II, Ltd. - Launched in 2006, this fund focuses on private equity investments in fast-growing private Vietnamese companies with excellent management teams, typically in consumer driven industries ^[17]
• Vietnam Azalea Fund, Limited. - Launched in 2007, this fund focuses primarily on pre-IPO investments, including privatizations^[18][19]
• Mekong Enterprise Fund III, Ltd. - A private equity fund launched in 2016, focusing on consumer driven industries in Vietnam,^[20] typically looking to deploy $8 million to $15 million per deal.

Vision Driven Investing

Vision Driven Investing is a private equity value creation framework which applies best practices from Private Equity, Executive Coaching, Leadership Development, Corporate Transformation and Change Management in a Private Equity context.

The framework involves aligning around a shared vision with investee companies, subsequently aligning around a business plan with clear milestones and measurable targets for achieving that vision, actively tracking progress against those milestones, and partnering with the investee company to execute the plan in a way that the company is empowered to achieve the vision regardless of the obstacles encountered.

Mekong Capital’s application of Vision Driven Investing is featured in a case study by Harvard Business School entitled Mekong Capital: Building a Culture of Leadership in Vietnam, as well as a case study by London Business School entitled Mekong Capital: The Importance of Corporate Culture in Emerging Markets Private Equity.

References

External links

• Mekong Capital website

Private equity and venture capital investment firms
Investment strategy	Venture Growth Mezzanine Secondaries Leveraged buyout
History	History of private equity and venture capital Early history of private equity Private equity in the 1980s Private equity in the 1990s Private equity in the 2000s
Investors	Angel investor Corporate venture capital Commercial bank Crowdfunding Institutional investor Insurance company Investment bank Endowment Family office Fund of funds High-net-worth individual Merchant bank Pension fund Sovereign wealth fund
Private equity firms Venture capital firms Portfolio companies