Dragon Capital-affiliated funds lower holdings in Vietnam steelmaker HSG to 7.7%

A group of funds affiliated with Dragon Capital, one of the leading foreign-run asset management firms in Vietnam, has sold 3.17 million shares of Hoa Sen Group to cut their combined holding in the Vietnamese steelmaker to 7.71% from 8.23%.

The funds unloaded the shares on August 16, reducing their ownership to 47.51 million shares, Dragon Capital said in a filing to the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange.

The Dragon Capital-linked shareholders have been actively trading HSG shares of Hoa Sen Group since the start of this year, tilting to the selling side. Between March 15 and August 16, they net sold over 28 million HSG shares, reducing their holding from 12.3% to 7.71%.

Dragon Capital’s transactions came as Hoa Sen Group had a stellar April-June performance. The steel major earned a consolidated net profit of VND273.4 billion ($10.9 million) on revenue of VND10,840 billion in its Q3 of its 2023-2024 fiscal year, up 18.3-fold and 25.4% year-on-year, respectively.

In its first three quarters of the current fiscal year, Hoa Sen Group booked a consolidated net profit of VND696 billion ($27.53 million), a turnaround from a loss of VND410 billion ($16.2 million) in the same period last year.

According to Hanoi-based Vietcombank Securities, steel prices are unlikely to surge in the time to come amid China’s lackluster real estate market.

Vietnamese steelmakers are expected to face more headwinds in overseas markets. Under the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), exporters to that market will have to pay additional taxes on carbon emissions.

Furthermore, Vietnam’s hot-rolled coil (HRC) is dealing with antidumping investigations launched by the European Commission and India.

HSG shares closed at VND20,750 ($0.83) apiece on Thursday.