HCM City stock exchange ups ante

HCM CITY — Onlycompanies with at least VND80 billion (US$5 million) in authorised capital will
be allowed to list in HCM City.

State Securities Commission Chairman Vu Bang told reporters on the sidelines of a Listed Company Club and investors’ meeting last Saturday in HCM City that a draft decree to guide the Securities Law had been submitted to the Government.

Under the decree, expected to be approved early next year, companies already listed but with less than
VND80 billion equity would have two years to increase their capital failing which they would be moved to the Ha Noi exchange.

Bang said the HCM City bourse would target major institutions in industries like banking, insurance,
and telecom.

FPT lists this week

The Vietnamese markets moved erratically during the past week but with more ups than downs, propelled
by the impending listing of several blue chips.

The VN Index closed almost 65 points higher at 696.12 even though two out of the three trading sessions
last Friday were cancelled due to technical problems at the HCM City Securities Trading Centre.

The Corporation for Financing and Promoting Technology (FPT) will list in HCM City on Wednesday.

FPT is a market leader in systems integration, mobile phone distribution, software production, and telecom
and internet services. It recently opened a software engineering university.

Big names like Intel Capital and Texas Pacific Group have invested US$36.5 million in FPT, whose
equity capital now stands at over VND608 billion ($38 million). Its shares were traded unofficially at 20 times their face value.

It will be followed the next day by Thu Duc Housing Development Corporation (TDH). With capital of
VND170 billion ($10.6 million) it will be the first property company to list. It is owned by various institutional and individual investors including major companies like the HCM City Securities Company, Saigon Securities Inc, Amersham Industries Ltd, and Vietnam Dragon Fund Ltd.

The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp rates TDH as one of Viet Nam’s top 15 blue chip companies.

The 16-year-old joint-stock company has invested in more than 30 housing projects including An Phu and Binh An, and has eight others under construction, including Cantavil and Hiep Phu.

It is also a major financial investor with VND250 billion ($15.6 million) in Phuoc Long Textile Joint Stock Co., HCM City Housing Development Bank, and Prudential Balanced Investment Fund 1. Its chairman, Le Chi Hieu, said the company would begin to offer new services like property management and brokerage.

It made a profit of VND38 billion ($2.7 million) last year and VND40 billion in the first three quarters
this year.

Securities firm to debut

Saigon Securities (SSI), among Viet Nam’s first securities companies, will this Friday become the first
company from the industry to list on the Ha Noi Securities Trading Centre.

SSI has an equity of VND500 billion ($31.25 million) and total assets of over VND2.5 trillion ($156.25 million).

It services over two-thirds of all foreign stock market investors and consulted for 17 major companies listed in HCM City.

It expects net profits this year of VND148 billion ($9.25 million) and VND302 billion next year, and to
pay annual dividends of 30 per cent until 2009. — VNS

see details: VietNam News