Exchange-traded fund listed in HCMC

Bao Viet and HCM City securities companies created the ETF, the first domestic open-end fund in Viet Nam tracked by the VN30 Index, with supervision from the Viet Nam Standard Chartered Bank Ltd and under the management of the Viet Nam Fund Management Company (VFM).

The ETF shares, with a price margin that is within 20 per cent, represent the performance of the 30 largest stocks in HCM City. Each stock has a certain percentage in the portfolio, with the highest belonging to property giant Vingroup with 11.07 per cent, followed by Vinamilk with 10.32 per cent, private equity group Masan”s with 9.12 per cent and Sacombank with 8.03 per cent.

The ETF”s opening is expected to solve problems related to the foreign ownership of shares, as it grants unlimited ownership of shares to foreign investors, who are restricted to only 49 per cent of closed-end funds.

The VFM has mobilised a registered capital of VND202 billion ($9.6 million) for the fund”s initial public offering, thereby doubling its target of VND100 billion ($4.76 million).

Although the fund”s scale is still much smaller than that of the total assets of two foreign ETFs, including The Market Vectors Viet Nam ETF and DB X-Tracker FTSE Viet Nam, its registered capital is $10 million to $7.5 million higher than that of The Market Vectors”s initial start and $5.3 million higher than that of the FTSE. — VNS