HO CHI MINH CITY: Vietnam’s top securities firms are accelerating capital-raising efforts in anticipation of the country’s long-awaited upgrade to emerging market status, expected next month.
The move aims to boost lending capacity, scale up core operations, and attract increased foreign institutional investment.
Leading brokerages such as SSI Securities, Techcom Securities (TCBS), and VPBank Securities (VPBankS) are rolling out aggressive equity issuance plans, underscoring a growing belief that market conditions will favour expansion.
SSI, the country’s largest brokerage by capital, announced in early September its plan to issue 415.5 million shares to existing shareholders at 15,000 dong per share.
The issuance is expected to raise 6.2 trillion dong, raising the company’s charter capital from 20.8 trillion dong to nearly 25 trillion dong. Proceeds will support margin lending, bond investments and deposits.
TCBS completed its initial public offering, raising 10.8 trillion dong by selling over 231 million shares at 46,800 dong each. Approximately 70% of the funds will be used for proprietary trading, with the remainder earmarked for margin lending.
VPBankS is also preparing to offer 375 million shares, equivalent to 25% of its current equity, at a minimum price of 12,130 dong. The firm’s capital will increase from 15 trillion dong to 18.75 trillion dong following the offering.
The capital-raising spree is driven in part by optimism surrounding Vietnam’s expected upgrade from frontier to secondary emerging market status by global index provider FTSE Russell.
The upgrade would mark a turning point for Vietnam’s equity markets, opening the door to increased global fund inflows. —Viet Nam News/ANN
