VietNamNet Bridge – Years ago, Vietnamese financial investors joined in on a “securities rush”, seeing securities companies as the geese that lay golden eggs. Today, they are fleeing in droves.

Nguyen Duc Thuy, an influential businessman who invests in many different fields, from football clubs to securities, has decided to sell all his stakes in Xuan Thanh Securities Company (VIX), formerly known as Vincom Securities.

All of Thuy’s 22 million VIX shares were sold within one trading session in late March. He say he made a wise move to sell at that moment, as the stock market was heating up after several years of coolness. With the sale, Thuy has officially withdrawn from a field of business which cost him much money and time.

Thuy tasted only bitterness when holding VIX shares, incurring VND51 billion in losses in his first year of ownership. Since then, the company’s performance in what has been a gloomy stock market has been a further disappointment.

Not only Thuy, but many other “big fish” also have said, or plan to say, goodbye to securities companies.

At the Phu Nhuan Jewelry Company’s shareholders’ meeting held in late March, President Cao Thi Ngoc Dung said the board of directors realized that they blundered when making financial investment deals. Phu Nhuan is moving ahead with its plan to withdraw capital from a series of legal entities. In the latest news, all of its stakes in Dai Viet Securities Company have been transferred.

In late 2013, the Vietnam Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) sold all of its stakes in KIS Securities, amounting to 8.7 percent of the company’s stakes.

SeABank, Phu My Investment Corporation and Le Huu Bau, an individual shareholder, have reportedly transferred their stakes in Dong Nam A Securities, amounting to 83 percent of the company’s stakes.

Viet Trang Company has sold the 10 percent of Lien Viet Securities that it held, while the Long Giang Urban Area Investment and Development has sold 9 percent of An Phat Securities.

In many cases, when the big investors left, the securities companies disappeared from the market. The names of Cho Lon, Cao Su, Sao Viet, SME, Hanoi and Truong Son Securities are nothing more than memories today.

The new bosses – who are they?

In the eyes of many investors, pouring money into the securities industry was a bad mistake. However, there are those who disagree. And while most of the publicly-traded securities companies are unprofitable, their owners still can easily find buyers.

Those who have interest in securities companies are the investors who believe that the stock market is poised to recover soon, which will raise the value of securities shares. One analyst says he sees the increasingly high interest on the part of foreign investors in Vietnamese securities companies.

It was Korea Investment Securities which bought KIS Securities’ stakes from Vinatex. The deal has made it the largest shareholder, with a stake of 90 percent.

Hung Vuong Securities’ shares were sold by a Vietnamese individual investor to a foreigner, Tong Chin Hen, who now holds 15 percent of Hung Vuong.

Manh Ha