IFC helps VI Group boost governance and performance
IFC helps VI Group boost governance and performance
More than 20 board members and senior investment and portfolio executives of Vietnam Investments Group (VI Group) attended a corporate governance workshop in HCM City on August 15.
Hosted by VI Group and IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, the workshop sought to improve corporate governance practices among VI Group portfolio companies, in a bid to boost the company's performance, increase access to finance, and encourage sustained economic growth.
At the workshop, experts reviewed best practices on creating more effective boards and control mechanisms to raise transparency and accountability.
Chris Razook, IFC Corporate Governance Lead for East Asia and the Pacific, noted, "Good corporate governance can help increase shareholder value. We are working with our investment client, VI Group, to further improve governance practices among its portfolio companies to raise their performance and sustainability levels."
The workshop also provided an update on the latest corporate governance requirements of Vietnam's 2014 Law on Enterprises, which took effect in July 2015. The law clearly defines the role of an independent director in a company board and states that, subject to requirements, Vietnamese joint-stock companies are allowed to set up audit committees based on international practices without having a supervisory board.
"We begin working with our portfolio companies at an early stage to add value to them for the long term," said David Do, Managing Director of VI Group, which mainly invests in Vietnamese high-growth businesses in consumer goods and services, manufacturing, and logistics.
Founded in 2006, VI Group is a private equity firm that focuses on high growth businesses in Vietnam. With US$400million under management across three funds, the group's investment can take the form of straight equity, performance-linked equity or convertible debt.
IFC has been working with the Vietnamese government since 2007 to further improve the country's regulations and investment climate, raise public awareness about corporate governance, build the capacity of its partners, and provide governance advice to individual companies.
