The Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HASTC)-listed Kinh Bac City Development Share Holding Corp (KBC) would move to the HCM City Stock Exchange (HOSE) by the middle of this month, the company announced.

KBC stock will stop transactions on the HASTC next Wednesday and start trading on the HOSE from December 12. The reference price for its first trading day on the HOSE will be based on the average price of last 15 trading days on the HASTC, plus/minus a 20 percent trading band.

On December 18, 2007, 88 million KBC stocks were officially listed on the HASTC and ended the first day at VND161,300 (US$8.7) per share.

KBC has always been one of the five most heavily-traded shares on the northern bourse and a favourite among foreign investors. The famous US-based Standard and Poor’s rated KBC top ten best stocks on the Viet Nam’s stock exchange after the first six months of listing.

Dang Thanh Tam, Kinh Bac Corp chairman, explaining the listing swap, said the move was necessary to meet the needs and benefits of the company’s shareholders and investors, and especially to contribute to the sound development of the local stock market.

"VN-Index is the official Viet Nam’s stock index and national economic thermometer which plays an important role in investment decisions of foreign investors", Tam said. "VN-Index needs a bulk of strong, liquid and voluminous stock to prevent adverse speculation which distorts the market".

"KBC has prepared carefully for two years and believes its stocks could benefit investors as well as contribute to the development of the VN-Index,"he stated.

Kinh Bac Corp’s charter capital, beginning from VND800 billion ($43.2 million), has increased to VND2 trillion ($108.1 million). The company is also preparing bonus shares to be issued at a rate of 30 percent to raise the charter capital to VND2.6 trillion ($140.5 million).

The company has just completed the issue of VND400 billion ($21.6 million) worth of corporate bonds which mature in five years with a 12-per cent annual interest rate.

In November, KBC made many investment promotion trips to South Korea, Japan and Taiwan to attract foreign investment and has signed investment contracts worth millions of US dollars for its industrial park projects.