Japan’s Daiwa Securities to expand Vietnam presence, invite others to invest

Tokyo-headquartered Daiwa Securities Group will expand its Vietnam presence and facilitate fellow companies’ investment in the nation’s financial market, an executive said Tuesday.

Vietnam’s stock market has become attractive to Japanese investors, Takafumi Oue, head of Daiwa Securities Co.’s rep office in Vietnam, said at a financial investment promotion conference in Tokyo, hosted by Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance.

Since its 2008 entry in Vietnam, Daiwa Securities has partnered with Ho Chi Minh City-based Saigon Securities Inc. (SSI) and joined a host of merger and acquisition (M&A) deals in the country, Oue said.

Daiwa Securities now owns a 15.46% stake in SSI, one of the largest brokers in Vietnam with charter capital of VND15 trillion ($609 million).

In 2020, SSI Asset Management Company Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SSI, announced a plan to launch a new $100 million fund in partnership with Daiwa Securities. This would be the third fund established collaboration with Daiwa, following the first $30 million private equity vehicle in 2009 and the second $40 million fund in 2016.

Tuesday’s conference saw the participation of over 200 participants from Vietnamese and Japanese companies, including financial institutions, banks, life insurance firms, fund management firms and brokerage houses.

Finance Minister Ho Duc Phoc called for more Japanese investments and hoped that Japan would continue to be a leading partner in terms of both direct and indirect investments in Vietnam.

He affirmed that his ministry will take decisive action to develop the stock market, speed up digital transformation and ensure transparent operations. The ministry will also strive to have the stock market status upgraded to “emerging market” from the current “frontier market.”

A similar conference was held in the South Korean capital of Seoul five days earlier.