Spotlight on Will Ross, Executive Director, Dragon Capital
Global Thought Leader Spotlight
Will Ross, Executive Director, Dragon Capital (Vietnam)
In my role as Executive Director and Chief Marketing & Distribution Officer at Dragon Capital, I am responsible for the end-to-end investor experience starting with awareness and branding, through to post-investment support. As the investor base for Vietnam continues to diversify this extends to education, product, channel and support strategies to provide new investors with access. These responsibilities draw upon my diverse background in investment banking, e-commerce, and venture capital across Asia-Pacific.
Vietnam as an investment destination
There are two main drivers supporting an allocation to Vietnam as an investment destination. Firstly, the opportunities stemming from the China +1 global supply chain realignment. In addition to multinational companies (MNCs) derisking their operations in China with manufacturing in Vietnam, Chinese companies are increasingly moving operations across the land border to Vietnam.
This favours outperformance of real estate plays, like industrial park operators, and supply chain participants, like logistics providers. Notably, for investors looking to switch out of their Chinese exposure, Vietnam provides an opportunity to leverage an understanding of mainland corporates and the potential impact on their Vietnamese operations.
The second investment driver is the rate of urbanisation and middle-class formation, like the various generations of previous Asian tigers.
Arguably, Vietnam is the last great Asian emergence story of scale. The resulting shifts in lifestyle, heavily favour retail plays, as increasing affluence fuels demand for higher price point goods and services. Thus, to derive the broadest benefit from Vietnam’s emergence a portfolio blending both themes is likely best.
Earnings-per-share growth across the market of 15 to 20% per annum will provide linear returns for the foreseeable future, even if the market continues to trade in a range of 12-15x P/E. Further upside is possible through multiple expansion, if Vietnam is upgraded to Emerging Markets status by FTSE-Russell or MSCI.
Implications for sophisticated investors
Vietnam’s economic emergence is underpinned by both manufacturing and exports, as well as domestic consumption. The breadth and the balance of the two are exposed to domestic politics, geopolitics and the health of the global economy.
If deglobalisation accelerates will domestic consumption be sufficient to offset export declines, or can a next generation of technology products emerge that are less exposed to restrictive trade policies?
As an exporter, Vietnam’s journey has been from cashews to supply chain and now, increasingly coding. Technology has been a key factor both in terms of its improvement of production processes as well as a product in and of itself.
This is a tangible dividend of Vietnam’s academic leadership and how it continues to grow the nation’s soft infrastructure.
As career choices expand, the urbanisation and middle-class formation associated with the East Asian Economic Model are evident. Notably, with a population of 100 million in a single land mass, infrastructure decisions on roads and rail, not only integrate the country into a single market, but provide a competitive improvement in logistics costs for exporters. Structural themes suggest a positive outlook, but risks persist that poor policy execution could slow the pace of emergence or prevent the nation from fulfilling its potential.
Will is presenting at Global Investment Institute’s upcoming Family Office Investment Forum - Sydney, taking place on Tuesday, 15 October 2024 in Sydney CBD, New South Wales and the Family Office Investment Forum - Melbourne, taking place on Thursday, 17 October 2024 in Melbourne CBD, Victoria.
To register your interest in attending, click here or for more information email zelda@globalii.com.au.
Will Ross, Executive Director, Dragon Capital (Vietnam)
Will is an Executive Director at Dragon Capital (Vietnam). He has a bachelor’s in economics and philosophy from Queen’s University in Canada and is a CFA charterholder. Will spent the vast majority of his 25 years of professional life in global banks such as JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, HSBC and Citi.
Will started his career in structured credit / finance research, then moved to product development of capital markets products / financing solutions, investment banking services for wealthy Asian families and most recently developing and implementing digital solutions to target younger families and professionals in Asia, to help them accumulate wealth. He also spent time in the ‘digital world’, having played a key role in the end-to-end management of a cross-border marketplace at Lazada, including initiatives such as the launch of Lazada’s first celebrity KOL shop with Korea’s famous rapper G-Dragon.y.
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