EQuest Education Group, EQuest Capital and Standard Chartered Bank’s New York branch have signed an agreement to cooperate in mobilising international capital, with an expected value of up to 325 million USD for education projects in Vietnam.

A view of the signing ceremony of an agreement to cooperate in mobilising international capital between EQuest Education Group and Standard Chartered Bank’s New York branch. (Photo: VIFC-HCMC)

The signing ceremony took place during General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and President To Lam’s working trip to New York, in the presence of the top leader, the Vietnamese Government delegation and Richard Dean McClellan, Chief Executive Officer of the Vietnam International Financial Centre in Ho Chi Minh City (VIFC-HCMC).

The agreement is expected to connect international capital with long-term education projects in Vietnam, spanning K-12 and higher education, technology training, and the development of high-quality human resources.

Under the agreement, Standard Chartered will act as a strategic partner in structuring and participating in the arrangement of financing packages.

The bank has an international network connecting the United States, Singapore, Vietnam and major global financial centres.

EQuest Capital is a member of VIFC-HCMC. Through VIFC-HCMC’s financial ecosystem, together with its preferential policies and mechanisms on foreign exchange management, taxation and an internationally aligned legal framework, EQuest Capital will be well positioned to receive, structure and deploy investment capital directly into key projects in a transparent, secure and economically optimal manner.

Truong Hoang Nam, EQuest Education Group's Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of finance, said through the partnership with Standard Chartered and the connecting role of VIFC-HCMC, EQuest expects to progressively expand its access to long-term capital to invest in infrastructure, develop training programmes and enhance the quality of education in Vietnam.

The mobilised capital is expected to be allocated and disbursed by EQuest Capital across EQuest’s strategic investment priorities in Vietnam, with Ho Chi Minh City serving as the core hub.

One of the projects involves building a technology-focused university campus: offering undergraduate and postgraduate training in frontier technology fields such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, data science, robotics, semiconductors, industrial systems engineering, as well as nursing and healthcare

The funds will also be used to expand international university partnerships in Vietnam: prioritising investment, joint training programmes, facility upgrades and campus infrastructure development with reputable universities and institutes across Asia and the US.

In addition, EQuest plans to develop a network of international schools, a private K-12 school system, and an education technology (edtech) platform.

Besides arranging financing, Standard Chartered plans to jointly explore and provide credit products and convenient foreign exchange management solutions for the global community of experts and faculty members.

McClellan shared that the partnership between EQuest and Standard Chartered embodies the very role VIFC-HCMC aspires to play, which is bringing international financial institutions to long-term investment projects in Vietnam.

Channelling global financial resources into concrete education projects also opens opportunities for Vietnamese education enterprises to engage more deeply in international financial networks and cooperation, thereby contributing to the policy of mobilising private resources for education and developing high-quality human capital for Vietnam.

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