VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund (VOF), the flagship fund of VinaCapital, has announced that it has become a significant investor in Tasco JSC, a toll road operator and real estate development company in northern Vietnam, via a private placement. 

Tasco's private placement raised US$23 million by issuing 21% of post-investment common shares to several investors including company management, with the largest acquirer being VOF, which invested US$11 million. Tasco will use proceeds of the private placement to help finance future infrastructure and real estate projects. 

Tasco's main businesses include infrastructure construction and development, and real estate development. Since its inception, Tasco has completed many infrastructure projects under the build-transfer (BT) and build-operate-transfer (BOT) schemes. The company currently has four toll-road projects in operation, and expect to bring another project into operation in 2017. By number of projects owned, Tasco is one of the largest BOT and BT developers in northern Vietnam. The total value of these projects is US$220 million.

Tasco revenue reached US$124 million and net profit US$18 million in 2016.

Andy Ho, Chief Investment Officer of VinaCapital and Managing Director of VOF, said:

"The private placement gave us the opportunity to acquire a meaningful stake at an attractive price in a company that has a long track record of results and a strong pipeline. This investment is consistent with our philosophy of investing in companies that are focused on the growth of the local economy, and infrastructure improvement is a critical element in Vietnam's ongoing development."