SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The property investment arm of British insurer Prudential (PRU.L: Quote, Profile, Research) is raising a second portion of a fund for Vietnam despite the country's economic problems and forecasts of a property market slide.
Believing attractive investment opportunities will spring up, Alex Hambly, Asia chief executive of Prudential Property Investment Management (PruPIM), said his firm had a first closing for the Vietnam fund and was working on a second.
"We're trying to raise money that we can sensibly invest over an 18-month period, Hambly told the Reuters Global Real Estate Summit in Singapore on Monday.
Hambly declined to say how much PruPIM wanted to raise in total, but said it would not reach the top of a $100 million - $500 million range previously quoted by the company. PruPIM manages about $39 billion worth of property assets worldwide.
Vietnam became a popular emerging market for investors when the country joined the World Trade Organisation in late 2006, and PruPIM was one of the first Western institutional investors to invest in property in the country.
But sentiment has soured this year as inflation soared to 25.2 percent in May, partly because of a gaping trade deficit that threatens to turn into a balance of payments crisis if inward investment slows.
The government has let the dong currency weaken to try to cut imports and improve competitiveness, tried to tighten lending, and raised interest rates, although they are still negative in real terms because of the high inflation.
PruPIM was taking a long-term view on Vietnam, Hambly said, in the belief that the country would overcome its current problems.
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