Private equity investors are paying more attention to the Vietnamesemarket, readying additional resources in expectation of better long-termresults, according to the Grant Thornton global private equity reportfor 2014 to 2015.

The report cited the 12th bi-annualsurvey conducted in the fourth quarter of 2014, with participation fromdecision-makers and investors working in private equity inside andoutside Vietnam.

In the survey, 72 percent of voters responded with positive sentiments about the economy – the highest rate in two years.

Respondents intended to maintain or even increase investment fundallocation to Vietnam in the next 12 months, with education, realestate, food and beverage, and retail seen as the most attractivesectors for investment.

While the role of market growth as adriver of value growth increased from 35 percent to 43 percent amongrespondents, performance improvement decreased from 49 percent to 35percent, reflecting current market conditions.

Whenconsidering investing in a private Vietnamese company, transparency inbusiness activities was considered the most important factor – as it wasduring the last survey – with 21 percent of respondents choosing it.

Twentypercent of respondents said they were most concerned about corporategovernance in Vietnam, and about 41 percent believed the cost of debtwill decrease in the next year.

Nevertheless, the economyis still facing many challenges, including slow reforms in the publicsector, inadequate infrastructure, difficulties in obtaining debtfinancing, corruption, and complications with red tape and legislation.

About 5 percent of respondents no longer see the country as a potential destination – compared with zero in the last survey.

Accordingto the ASEAN Business Outlook Survey conducted by the American Chamberof Commerce in Singapore, the most attractive country for new businessexpansion is Indonesia, followed by Vietnam and Myanmar.-VNA