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VN firms may qualify for S Korea exchange listing
About 22 Vietnamese companies currently listed on domestic stock markets could qualify to list shares on Korean stock exchanges, according to an assessment by South Korean-invested Woori CBV Securities Company published at a conference here on Wednesday about raising capital on Korean markets.
Vietcombank, Vinamilk, real estate developer Hoa Phat Group, software giant FPT and the PetroVietnam Technical Services Company were among those that could list in South Korea, the assessment found. Vietnamese firms could benefit greatly by listing on the Korean market, said Lee Daegyu, the assistant Director of listing promotions for the Korean Stock Exchange.
Besides raising capital through initial public offers, the companies could access investment opportunities in South Korea and more effectively market themselves to Korean investors, Lee said.
The Korean Exchange was working to attract more foreign companies to list, Lee added. In 2007-10, 15 foreign firms listing shares on the exchange, with 13 coming from China, one from Japan and one from the US.
The Korean Exchange has two separate markets, the Kospi and Kosdaq stock exchanges.
A foreign firm wishing to list on Kospi needs a total market capitalisation no less than US$16.6 million, while a listing on Kosdaq requires a firm to have capitalisation in excess of $7.5 million.
Since early 2009, the success of Government bond issues overseas has open more doors to local companies to raise capital on overseas markets. HCM City-listed property trader Vincom, for instance, has offered $80 million in convertible bonds overseas.
Convertible bonds could become the most favourable channel for Vietnamese companies to raise capital overseas, affirmed the director of Woori's HCM City branch, Lim Song Hak.
But the head of market development for Viet Nam's State Securities Commission, Nguyen Son, warned that regulations on securities offerings, listings and disclosure on overseas markets still remained difficult for Vietnamese firms.
The commission was drafting an instruction to support local firms seeking to list overseas, Son said.
Textile firm Mirae Joint Stock Company, currently listed in HCM City, is the only firm now actively seeking to comply with listing procedures for the Korea Exchange.
Mirae received permission from the Vietnamese Government in May 2009 to pursue the overseas listing.
vietnamnews
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