VINACHEM

The Vietnamese stock market on November 7 witnessed its biggest-ever transaction: 415 million VRE shares of Vincom Retail, worth $740 million, were transferred within one trading session.

The amount of shares foreign investors registered to buy was actually much higher, estimated at $2 billion. Well-known names such as Dragon Capital, Genesis, GIC, HSBC and Templeton bought shares at the historic trading session.

Prior to that, in mid-July 2017, the Vietnamese stock market witnessed a record high amount of VP Bank shares (VPB), worth $1.2 billion that tens of foreign investors registered to buy.

The impressive debut made by Vincom Retail has put the company of the dollar billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong on the list of 24 companies with capitalization value of at least $1 billion.

Vincom Retail has surpassed many other big companies in different fields, including VietinBank, Masan and Petrolimex, to become one of the 10 biggest shares in the stock market.

The retailer now has capitalization value of $3.4 billion, higher than commercial banks, except Vietcombank.

In late 2016 and early 2017, investors noticed the appearance of a series of large companies which had capitalization value reaching $1 billion and more after entering the bourse. These included Petrolimex, a petroleum distributor ($3 billion), ACV, ($7 billion) and Sabeco, a brewer ($8 billion).

The others are FLC Faros which has capitalization value of $4 billion, Vietnam Airlines ($1.5 billion) and Masan Consumer ($1.4 billion).

The businesses with capitalization value of billions of dollars has helped Vietnamese stock markets grow rapidly. The capitalization value of the HCMC bourse has reached $100 billion, while the total value of all three bourses (Hanoi, HCMC, UpCom) would be $130 billion, or 60 percent of GDP.

Vietnamese analysts have recognized two Vietnamese dollar billionaires – Trinh Van Quyet who has stock assets of $2.7 billion, and Pham Nhat Vuong who has $2.1 billion.

Meanwhile, Forbes lists two Vietnamese billionaires – Pham Nhat Vuong ($3.4 billion) and Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao ($1.9 billion).

Contrary to the prediction about a ‘gloomy November’ which was believed to be even worse than May, the VN Index continued to rise and has easily exceeded the 850 point threshold. The index has been increasing for the 11th consecutive month.

However, analysts noted that the liquidity in the market is relatively low, while the demand is mostly for blue chips. And cash flow is mostly from foreign investors. - VNN -