Foreign investors are eyeing Vietnamese large corporations

Jardine Cycle & Carriage, a subsidiary of Jardine Matheson, announced it had spent $3.8 million to collect 2.1 million REE shares on November 28 to raise its ownership ratio from 22.87 percent to 23.55 percent.

Prior to that, the giant registered to buy 6.6 million REE in the period from November 28 to December 27 to buy 77.5 million shares, or a 24.99 percent stake of the company.

As such, the room for foreign investors in REE has nearly filled up. 

Just within the last three weeks, the 200-year-old firm Jardine Matheson spent nearly $1 billion to collect Vinamilk shares both at auction and on the bourse, causing Vinamilk share prices to soar from VND150,000 to VND190,000.

The investments in REE and Vinamilk are just a small part of the huge assets Jardine Matheson is managing in Vietnam.

The race by foreign investors to pour money into leading shares in Vietnam is getting hotter as the government has announced it is speeding up its divestment from enterprises.

Japanese Daiwa Securities registered with HOSE (the HCMC Stock Exchange) to buy 14.86 million SSI shares from December 4, 2017 – January 2, 2018 to raise its ownership ratio to 20.5 percent (100 million shares). If successful, Daiwa Securities will have to pay VND400 billion for the deal.

On November 28, foreign investors unexpectedly spent VND1.1 trillion out of VND1.4 trillion worth of net purchases in the trading session to collect 56 million DIG shares sold by the Ministry of Construction.

On November 29, the stock market witnessed a boom again with the VN Index exceeding the 950 point threshold.

Investors continue to hunt for shares of banks and securities companies including SSI, HCM, VND, BVS, CTS, VCB, ACB, MBB and BID. 

In addition, the shares of retailers, aviation companies, oil & gas and companies from which the state is going to divest, including MWG, VJC, PLX, PVD, BMP and VCG, are also in high demand.

Reports by securities companies all say that the liquidity in the stock market has improved while foreign capital continues flowing into the market. The VN Index this year hit its highest point since 2008.

BSC Securities said the stock market is still on the rise and that investors can increase ownership ratios of good shares that attract cash flow.

The closing VN Index on November 29 increased by 10.93 points to VND952.14 points, while the HNX Index increased by 0.08 points to 54 points. Nearly 300 million shares were traded, worth VND6.6 trillion.

US$1=VND22,000

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