PYN Elite, Dragon Capital, Prudential Vietnam subscribe for Vietcap Securities shares

A host of foreign investors including PYN Elite, Dragon Capital, and Prudential Vietnam have subscribed for shares of Ho Chi Minh City-based Vietcap Securities in the latter’s upcoming private offering.

Vietcap Securities, listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange under the ticker VCI, has announced a plan to issue 143.63 million shares or a quarter of the outstanding shares at VND28,000 ($1.14) apiece.

VCI shares closed down 0.7% at VND35,900 ($1.46) each on Friday.

The broker expects to book proceeds of VND4,022 billion ($163.43 million) from the share sale. Of the amount, 87.6% will be used for margin lending and the rest for proprietary trading.

The sale will be conducted this year or the first quarter of next year, after the stock market watchdog confirms the dossiers of the offering.

After the issuance, the firm’s charter capital will increase to VND7,181 billion ($291.8 million) from the current VND5,745 billion.

The new shares will be restricted from trading within one year from the date of issuance.

Finland-based PYN Elite has subscribed for the largest amount, 21.5 million shares, or 2.99% of the post-offering amount of shares. Apollo Asia Fund Ltd. came second with 12.74 million shares. Life insurer Prudential Vietnam has registered to buy 2.2 million shares.

Several funds affiliated with Vietnam-focused asset management firm Dragon Capital have registered to buy large batches of shares. They include Samsung Vietnam Securities Master Investment Trust [Equity], Amersham Industries Limited, DC Developing Markets Strategies Public Limited Company, and Hanoi Investments Holdings Limited. Several of them are existing shareholders.

In addition, many individuals have subscribed for millions of shares.

None of the subscribers will hold more than a 5% stake in VCI after the offering.

At the firm’s 2024 AGM in April, Vietcap Securities chairwoman Nguyen Thanh Phuong said increasing the charter capital is an obvious need as the government has plans to raise the size of the local stock market to 100% of GDP in 2025 and 120% in 2030. Meanwhile, several operations of a broker are tied to its equity.

In H1/2024, Vietcap Securities was the sixth largest broker on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange with a 5.44% market share.