About us

Our business model

Asia Business Builders (ABB) was founded in 2013 with the belief that both foreign and local clients would benefit from a specialized merchant banking firm dedicated to building long-term relationships with its core clients. Since its inception, ABB has aided the growth of businesses in Vietnam by facilitating strategic partnerships with foreign investors who possess strong operational and technical expertise.

Operating in frontier markets, particularly Vietnam, presents challenges due to limited access to high-quality information. We believe that by upholding the highest standards of excellence, we have established a niche boutique firm that excels in closing strategic transactions with dedication, experience, and professionalism. Our goal is to make a positive impact in the markets we serve while generating returns for our partners and ourselves.

After successfully closing over USD 500 million in strategic M&A transactions in Vietnam, we identified a market gap for an in-house private equity platform focused on investing in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with strong return potential and a commitment to social impact. This led to the launch of our first SME private equity fund in June 2018, followed by a second fund in December 2024. We maintain market-leading internal governance standards, and our institutional-grade fund currently manages the assets of select Development Finance Institutions, as well as local and international family offices.

With a strong track record of navigating the complexities of emerging businesses and working on operational and financial improvements with local Vietnamese entrepreneurs, we are uniquely positioned to deliver above-average internal rates of return (IRRs) for our limited partners. Core team members are shareholders in the corporate entities we manage and partners in the private equity business, demonstrating a firm commitment to the long-term success of the firm.

Overview of our approach to private equity

Investing profitably in Vietnam can be challenging. Our team actively works for our limited partners to deploy equity capital in the country in a transparent manner. To achieve this, we spend considerable time on the ground, identifying the right investment opportunities. We approach management and business owners discreetly and with cultural sensitivity.

Additionally, we secure the necessary due diligence information early in the process, allowing us to focus on and negotiate the most promising deals.

Our investment process adheres to internationally recognized private equity best practices (with our limited partners including several DFI, institutional investors and family offices), and we prioritize complete alignment with the selected promoters we choose to support.

While we source opportunities directly and have a strong pipeline of ongoing deals, we also welcome introductions from intermediaries.

Investment criteria

• Growth SMEs in Vietnam
• Businesses that will grow as a result of the 5 mega-trends in Vietnam
• Sound business strategies and high integrity management & promoter team
• Willingness to build transparent and successful ‘best-in-class’ local businesses
• Strong market positions in their specific niche and product portfolio
• Strong willingness to implement good governance & best practice ESG conduct
• Stable growing cash-flow
• Attractive prospects for organic or acquisition-based growth
• Young entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses preferred
• Openness to the ongoing hands-on financial & operational value-add and involvement from the ABB team
• Receptive to access & mentoring from our international network of operating partners

ABB’s team has developed its unique skill set from its track record of providing patient mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advice throughout the entire transaction process in Vietnam. Frontier markets require a long-term commitment to engage with business promoters. We have been pioneers in this approach, closely collaborating with the founders of the first generation of privately-owned companies that emerged after the Vietnamese market opened in the early 1990s.

ABB’s team has worked alongside these promoters for years, often long before any transactions take place. During this time, we help formalize their businesses and establish simple financial metrics and operational procedures to attract potential investors. True to our commitment to long-term partnerships, we continue our involvement even after deals are completed, acting as trusted advisors or in a supervisory role for an extended period.

ABB Merchant Banking is a member of AICA – an integrated global network of middle-market M&A advisory firms founded in 2009.

Significant ‘sweat equity’ has a result been invested by the team to close M&A deals since 2013.

Our expertise can be described as covering following areas:

Strategy and business development

We understand and view local Vietnamese entrepreneurs as our partners and work to understand their ambitions. As outsiders, we are however able to take a longer term strategic view of the businesses and to provide strategic advice. We bring our partners with strategic insight and inspiration which helps them to achieve tangible results and improve their standing in the competitive capital markets.

Restructuring

Emerging companies in Vietnam often have corporate structures which have developed through a process of coincidences and short term solutions. We have worked intimately with companies in Vietnam to streamline their organizations to be better suited to access outside capital. Our value creation has included:

• Subsidiary re-organization and product refocusing
• Alignment of management accounts with tax accounts
• Holding company creation and creation of special purpose vehicles for capital raising

Achieving successful exits

We have an unparalleled track record in enabling exits from small & medium sized Vietnamese businesses. We are true experts in working with local companies to professionalize the selling process and to seek the best possible exit terms. Historically as advisors and currently as investors, our key strengths include:

• Increasing the value of the business
  • We are adept at developing and managing discussions with multiple buyers to create momentum and competition which increases the exit value.
• Providing access to international investors
  • We speak the language of other international investors and we are able to discreetly solicit and discuss with investors to understand exactly where the industry trends are moving and when is the best timing for an exit.
• Helping entrepreneurs take charge of the sales process
  • One of the classic mistakes made by companies is to simply react to events by searching for solutions only in its immediate sphere of influence or by responding to inquiries by buyers. There is a better way to go! With us as partners, the company promoter and management runs the show and presents the company in the most fair and favorable light to potential outside investors.
• Improving deal terms
  • We are specialists and have worked on many transactions in Vietnam before. As a result, we will work together with the financial and legal advisers to decipher exactly what issues to look for and pitfalls to avoid to ensure a successful outcome. We have helped our local partners to define requirements at the outset and to negotiate and structure the agreements for the most favorable outcomes.