Baron Funds Comments on 21Vianet Group

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May 24, 2012
From Baron Funds' first quarter letter: We also initiated a position in 21Vianet Group, Inc. (VNET, Financial), a leading carrier neutral Internet infrastructure company in China.We believe rising broadband Internet penetration and the spread of Internet video, e-commerce, social networking and cloud services in China is driving explosive demand for data center and related Internet infrastructure services, and we see 21Vianet as one of the best positioned companies to benefit.Vianet's key customers are the "who's who" of China's Internet industry, and we believe the company's pricing power and value proposition are on the rise. During the quarter, we also took advantage of the market's surge to exit small, underperforming positions such as Vero Energy Inc., Ecosynthetix, Inc., Niko Resources Ltd. and THK Ltd.