MUSCAT, FEB 26
Oman’s oldest joint venture, the Vietnam-Oman Investment (VOI), is investing at least $30 million in F88 — a financial services firm based in Hanoi.
Founded in 2013, F88 is the pioneer and leading chain of secured lending (pawnshop chain) in Vietnam, targeting micro & small businesses and individual consumers.
The company is now backed by Mekong Capital — a private equity firm funding exclusively on Vietnamese consumer-driven sectors.
VOI is a joint venture established in 2009 between the erstwhile State General Reserve Fund (now Oman Investment Authority) — a sovereign wealth fund of the Sultanate of Oman — and the State Capital Investment Corporation in Vietnam.
In more than 12 years of partnership, the JV has grown into a $250 million investments ranging from solar power plants, water desalination, education and health, among other sectors.
Among the latest of VOI’s 20 investments is a solar power project which was inaugurated in the Vietnamese province of Long An. The BCG-CME Long An 1 solar plant, construction with an investment of around $46 million, covers an area of around 50 hectares and features an installed capacity of 40.6 MWp.
It is one of the first solar power plants to be inaugurated in Long An province and integrated into the national electricity grid.
At full capacity, the BCG-CME Long An 1 solar power plant will power an estimated 22,000 households in Vietnam, and reduce CO2 emissions by around 16,000 tonnes per year.
Vietnam-Oman Investment also invests in Aikya Corporation which is among the top 10 companies in Vietnam pharmaceutical industry. VOI also invests in Hau River surface water treatment plant in Hau Giang and in Song Duong WTP, the largest surface water treatment plant in Hanoi.
Moreover, VOI fully exited from 8 projects, the most notable of which is the Van Lang University project with an IRR of 47 per cent and 18 per cent successively.
It also partially exited from one investment with an IRR of 25 per cent and 65 per cent returns from the invested capital.
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