The warming up of the stock market in August has prompted enterprises to move ahead with their plans to list on the bourse.


The stock market has seen a vast volume of shares put
into transactions recently. On September 5, Vinaconex (VCG), the
construction giant, debuted at the Hanoi Securities Trading Centre
(HASTC). It listed 149,985,150 shares, worth VND1,500bil ($93.75mil).
Vinaconex is the second-biggest listed company at HASTC after Asia
Commercial Bank (ACB), which has listed shares worth VND2,630bil
($164.37mil).


Prior to that, VNECO1, Song Da Installation,
Construction and Investment Corporation, Gia Lai Culture and Tourism
Company also entered the Hanoi bourse.


At the HCM City Stock Exchange, on September 9,
Sonadezi Long Thanh, which has the chartered capital of VND100bil
($6.25mil), put 10mil shares into transaction. 20mil shares of
Vinaship, a shipping firm, also made their debut the same day.


It is expected that by the end of the year, 43 more
companies with the total chartered capital of VND5,800bil will have
listed on the two bourses. These include giants in different business
fields, such as Hoang Anh Gia Lai (VND1,200bil or $75mil), Phu Nhuan
Jewellery Company (VND300bil or $18.75mil), Saigon-Hanoi Bank (VND2tril
or $125mil). Some coal-exploiting companies will list on Hanoi’s
bourse, namely Cao Son Coal Company (VND100bil in chartered capital),
Deo Nai (VND80bil), and Ha Tu (VND91bil).


A lot of companies have also been licenced by the
State Securities Commission to issue more shares. HASTC has allowed
three companies to list additional shares, including Hoa Phat Group
(HPG), which has listed an additional volume of 56,103,998 shares worth
VND561bil in face value. Kinh Do Group has been allowed to list
10,115,211 shares worth VND101bil, while Sieu Thanh Company (ST8)
818,267 shares. Saigon Thuong Tin Bank has got approval to issue 67mil
additional shares worth VND667bil.


The recovery of the stock market has prompted
enterprises to quickly reinitiate plans to list on the bourse and issue
more shares after a long time of delaying. Share auctions have also
warmed up after many months of quietness. In late August, all 3.8mil
shares of Agribank’s Jewellery Company were sold at an auction at
HASTC. 116 investors registered to join the auction and ordered to
purchase a volume of shares triple the offered volume.


The auction by the company has been considered a great
success as the auctions in the first seven months of the year did not
catch the attention of investors.


At HOSE, no auction took place in July, while it is
expected that a series of auctions will occur in September and October:
the auction of 1,550,000 shares of Irrigation Works Construction
Company No 4, 1mil shares of Pymepharco, and others.


Investors have also been encouraged by the news that
big corporations, namely MobiFone, Mekong Housing Development Bank,
Vietinbank may be allowed to sell stakes to strategic partners before
offering shares to the public, which will help the stake sale process
go more rapidly.


The warming up of the market has encouraged businesses
to seek capital on the bourse. However, they have been warned that if
they do not have plans to use the capital to be mobilised from the
bourse in an effective way, they should not think of mobilising capital
at this moment.


Nguyen Ngoc Tuoi, Individual Clients Director under
Kim Eng Vietnam Securities Company, said that if all companies seek
capital on the bourse at the same time, investors’ money will become
exhausted, thus affecting issuance results.