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Warburg Pincus is MoMo 's largest shareholder, owning approximately 26% of the shares as of the end of last year. Photo: MoMo . |
According to DealStreet Asia , financial and strategic investors, including Blackstone and MUFG, are conducting due diligence for an investment in Vietnamese fintech unicorn MoMo. Sources indicate that 50% of MoMo's shares are being offered in a transaction process advised by Morgan Stanley and Jefferies.
This is expected to become one of the largest private equity deals in Vietnam this year in the technology sector.
Holds over a quarter of the capital in MoMo.
If the deal is completed, it will create an opportunity for divestment for some existing shareholders such as Warburg Pincus, the private equity fund holding the largest stake in MoMo, and Goodwater Capital, the fund that co-led MoMo's Series D funding round in 2021.
Warburg Pincus is the world's oldest private equity fund, headquartered in New York City, USA. It is considered a leading global growth investor, with over $115 billion invested in more than 1,000 companies across various sectors worldwide.
Notably, this "shark" is also the largest private equity fund in Vietnam with capital exceeding $2 billion .
At MoMo specifically, as of the end of 2025, Warburg Pincus owned approximately 26% of the shares, making it the largest shareholder among private equity funds. Following closely behind was Augusta Investments with over 13.2% of the shares; while Mizuho Bank held 7.3%. Other holdings included Kora Management, Tybourne Capital Management, Affirma Capital, Macquarie Capital, Goldman Sachs, and others.
In January 2021, when MoMo announced the completion of its Series D funding round, co-led by Warburg Pincus and Goodwater Capital, Jeffrey Perlman, CEO of Warburg Pincus, commented that with a high internet user rate, a rapidly growing middle class, and Vietnam's policy of promoting cashless payments, MoMo had many opportunities to become a leading mobile payment platform and replicate the success of major fintech companies in Asia.
According to Mr. Nguyen Manh Tuong, co-founder, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director of MoMo, by the Series E funding round at the end of 2021, the valuation of this "unicorn" had exceeded $2 billion . However, he affirmed that MoMo has no plans to launch an initial public offering (IPO) in the next few years.
Continuously investing capital in large corporations in Vietnam.
In fact, Warburg Pincus has been present in Vietnam since 2013, through its initial investment in Vincom Retail worth $200 million in exchange for approximately 20% of the shopping mall chain's shares. This was considered the largest initial investment by a global private equity fund in a Vietnamese business up to that point.
The formal agreement with Vingroup at the time also included a commitment from Warburg Pincus to participate in Vingroup's subsequent fundraising rounds worth up to $25 million , along with the right to invest an additional $100 million in Vincom Retail to expand its business platform and seek new development opportunities in the retail real estate sector. By 2015, the fund had invested an additional $100 million in Vincom Retail.
Immediately after Vincom Retail went public in 2017, Warburg Pincus successfully divested 415 million VRE shares at VND 40,600 per share, generating $740 million . This amount alone was approximately 2.5 times the fund's investment in Vincom Retail in previous years.
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Warburg Pincus entered Vietnam in 2013 with its first investment in Vincom Retail. Photo: VIC. |
Furthermore, in November 2016, Warburg Pincus and VinaCapital established a joint venture specializing in hotel investment and management called Lodgis Hospitality Holdings, with an initial capital of $300 million .
Currently, Lodgis Hospitality's most prominent project is The Grand Ho Tram. Spanning approximately 164 hectares, it is one of the largest resort complexes in the region and also one of the largest foreign-invested tourism projects in Vietnam. The complex already operates the 18-hole The Bluffs golf course, a casino, a convention center, and two international hotels: InterContinental Grand Ho Tram and Holiday Inn Resort Ho Tram Beach.
Recognizing the growing potential of the Vietnamese market, in 2018, this fund decided to invest over $370 million in Techcombank. In the same year, Warburg Pincus and Becamex IDC Corporation launched BW Industrial Development Joint Stock Company with an initial investment of over $200 million , of which the Vietnamese partner contributed 30%.
In subsequent years, the fund participated in MoMo's funding rounds before leading a $250 million investment in Novaland, completed in 2022. However, since then, the fund has only announced one new direct investment in Xuyen A Hospital (in 2024), but has not disclosed the specific investment value.
Regarding future investment directions, in September 2025, CEO Jeffrey Perlman stated that Warburg Pincus was focusing on digital infrastructure. He expressed his desire to support Vietnam in building high-tech data centers, in line with Vietnam's strategic development orientation.
Last March, at a seminar promoting investment in the Vietnam International Finance Center (VIFC) held in New York, Christopher Turner, a CEO at Warburg Pincus, shared that the fund highly values the growth potential of the Vietnamese market, along with its startup ecosystem and development opportunities in the technology sector. Therefore, the fund is ready to support Vietnam in developing its capital market and wishes to participate in VIFC.
Source: https://znews.vn/quy-dau-tu-my-dung-sau-momo-post1663796.html
