Vietnam Raises Requirements For New Stock Listings From Sep 15, 2012
Vietnam will raise requirements for companies seeking to list on its two official exchanges from September 15, 2012 through the newly issued Decree No.58 by the government.
Firstly, the new Decree required that companies must have charter capital of at least VND120 billion ($5.7 million) to be listed on the primary bourse, the HCM City Stock Exchange, or 50 percent higher than current VND80 billion requirement and at least VND30 billion to be listed on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, 3 times as much as existing requirement of VND10 billion.
Secondly, companies targeting to list on the both Exchanges will also need to have had a return-on-equity ratio (ROE) of at least 5 percent in the year prior to the listing date.
Thirdly, companies must have been operated in the form of joint-stock companies for at least 2 years to be listed on the STC and at least 1 year to debut on the HNX.
Fourthly, to-be-listed companies must have no outstanding debts of over 1 year and no accumulated losses.
Fifthly, to be listed on the STC companies must seek at approval of at least 20 percent stake with voting rights and the corresponding number for listing on the HNX is 15 percent.
Finally, to-be-listed companies must seek agreement of insiders (members of BOD, BOS, BOM, chief accountant, major shareholders) to hold their shares at least for 6 months after the listing date and at least 50 percent of their stakes for another 6 months.
Current listed companies are not subjected to new listing requirements.
The new Decree No 58 will replace Decree No 14 and 84 earlier, and is a supplement to the Decree No 01.
The new Decree also allows institutional investors to hold 100 percent stake in a securities company in Vietnam with certain requirements.
Category: Legal
