Credit Suisse Seeks Venture, New Underwriting in Vietnam

Chưa hiểu chuyện gì xảy ra, sau Morgan Stanley, Citi là CS và nghe đồn là cả GS đang tìm cách có mặt ở VN cho investment bank ???

Nhưng mọi người đừng vội mừng nhé ... mảng họ nhắm vào bây giờ không phải IPO như xưa mà là distressed assets, high yield products và hybrid cap. Điều này cho thấy họ nhìn thấy khả năng thị trường sẽ có điều chỉnh lớn về cách cách doanh nghiệp huy động vốn và các ngân hàng cho vay trong thời gian qua.

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Credit Suisse Seeks Venture, New Underwriting in Vietnam
By RICK CAREWApril 1, 2008; Page C5
HONG KONG -- Credit Suisse Group is looking to expand into Vietnam's share-underwriting market and aims to decide on joint-venture plans by the end of this year, according to its chief executive for the Asian-Pacific region.
Global investment banks are racing to tap Vietnam's potential for fees. The country's rapid growth and the government's commitment to privatizing its state-owned economy are prompting comparisons with its larger northern neighbor, China. In February, Morgan Stanley acquired a 49% stake in a local securities firm.
"One of my key priorities is before the end of this year to internally be very clear about what we want to do and what our preferred choice would be" for a joint-venture partnership, Kai Nargolwala, who took over Credit Suisse's Asian operations in January, said in an interview. "This is a near-term kind of initiative for us."
Credit Suisse already does work with Vietnamese clients, arranging U.S.-dollar syndicate loans and advising on mergers and acquisitions, among other things. Earlier this month, Credit Suisse won the right to advise state-owned Vietnam Construction and Import-Export Corp. on a strategic-stake sale.
Under Mr. Nargolwala's watch, Credit Suisse aims to bulk up its presence in local markets across Asia. The company's goal is to raise the Asian-Pacific region's contribution to global revenue and profit to more than 20% in the medium term from 10% to 12% now.
In China, Credit Suisse is working to set up a joint-venture securities firm under rules announced in December that reopened the market to foreign investment.
The Swiss bank is taking a one-third stake in a new securities joint venture with Founder Group, a Beijing-based conglomerate formed in 1986 by Peking University.
"Our agreements with our partners are all complete," Mr. Nargolwala said. "It's now within the process at China's securities regulator....At the moment, based on the application we have handed in, we are being told by the regulator that we have met all of their criteria, but they have to do their own due diligence."
He declined to speculate on when Credit Suisse expects to receive approval for the venture.
Credit Suisse plans to send some senior China bankers to help build the venture, but it won't have the degree of control that rivals Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and UBS AG won for their onshore securities operations.
"The management control will rest with Founder Group because they are the majority owner," Mr. Nargolwala said. "The Chinese authorities, quite legitimately, have said ownership must reflect the appropriate management control."
Credit Suisse climbed to rank second in Asia excluding Japan in terms of investment-banking revenue in the first quarter, trailing Citigroup Inc., after placing ninth in the fourth quarter of last year, according to data provider Dealogic.
Before joining Credit Suisse, Mr. Nargolwala, an India-born Briton, worked at Standard Chartered PLC, where he oversaw the British bank's country managers in Asia.