Vietnam To Launch Market For Unlisted Joint Stock Cos In June

VNStockNews.com - Viet Nam plans to launch in June a new trading floor for unlisted shareholding companies at the Hanoi Securities Trading Center (HaSTC), a government official said Friday.

"The new market is part of government efforts to help regulate the trade of shares of unlisted companies," the senior official at the State Securities Commission (SSC) told Dow Jones Newswires.

Currently, Viet Nam has more than one thousand shareholding companies. Less than half have been listed on the stock markets in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, noted the official, who declined to be named.

"We expect the government will soon issue the regulation for the unlisted public companies market, or 'UPCOM'," he added.

Foreigners will be allowed to buy a maximum stake of 49% in companies and 30% in banks in the UPCOM market, he said.

The International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Hanoi Securities Trading Center to start cooperating to improve operations at the local stock market, the SSC official said.

Currently, the HASTC listed 178 companies with a combined market capitalization of VND69.19 trillion ($4.1 billion). (Dow Jones)