Second financial firm allows foreign ownership

Illustrative image (Source: Internet)

Hanoi-based brokerage IB Securities JSC and its shareholders decided on September 21 to become the second financial firm in Vietnam to allow foreign investors to own up to 100 percent of its company, the firm said in a statement on its website.

HCM City-based Saigon Securities Inc became the first brokerage to allow total foreign ownership early this month.

Before the shareholders meeting was organised, the company had not mentioned the limit of foreign ownership in the corporate charter.

Foreign stakes in IB were only 0.4 percent with 122,800 shares at the end of February, the last time the company published that information.

At the shareholder meeting, IB also decided to issue 35 million shares for the company's strategic investors, worth 350 billion VND (15.5 million USD) in the coming fourth quarter to raise the company's chartered capital.

The price for these shares is the company's average trading value on the stock market in the last 60 days before the company made that decision.

These shares can be discounted by 10 percent but will stay above 10,000 VND per share.

These shares will be forbidden from being transferred during the year following their issuance.

The company will sell these shares to both local and foreign investors with strong financial ability and well-known brands in order to improve the quality of the company's products and services, and make it one of the leading brokerage firms on the market.

IB will spend the income received from issuing the shares to improve the company's financial capability in order to develop its derivative products and services, following the state's decree 42 issued in May regarding the derivatives market.

According to the decree 42, any financial institutions that want to operate in the derivatives market should have at least 800 billion VND (35.5 million USD) to trade derivative securities and provide brokerage services.

After the shareholder meeting, IB on September 22 rose 5.1 percent to close at 8,200 VND per share and traded nearly 3.2 million shares. IB has gained 21 percent over the last month.-VNA