Experts all say that there is now a golden opportunity for investors, an opportunity that appears once every ten years, to make investments. However, only courageous investors will be able to grasp the opportunity.

The fact that the prices of stocks at the Hanoi Securities Trading Centre (HASTC) increased sharply last week shows that a lot of investors are ready to grab their chances.

While many big companies listed on the HCM City Stock Exchange have been slowing down in growth due to unprofitable financial investments or the nation’s economic uncertainties, HASTC’s companies, small and dynamic, have shown good business results. Especially, these companies have not gotten bogged down in financial investments.

VSP at HASTC, for example, surprised shareholders when announcing the planned post tax profit for 2008 at VND189.2bil, double the profit it gained in 2007 at VND72.3bil. VSP’s P/E is now at a little over 4. Late last year, IPA, an investment fund, VSP’s strategic partner, purchased VSP stakes at VND150,000/share, raising IPA’s ownership ratio to 21%.

Meanwhile, several share items have seen their market prices fall to below the book value, while the business performance of the companies remains good. For example, on June 12, GMC’s market price was VND15,300/share, while the book value was VND20,000/share, GMD market was VND40,900/share, while the book value was VND52,064/share.

In fact, foreign investors have kept purchasing shares, despite the continued falls of the market. In HCM City, for example, in May 2008, the month that the VN Index decreased in all trading sessions, foreign investors still had the net purchasing volume of VND1,187bil (shares and fund certificates). Meanwhile, in the first week of June, their net purchasing volume was VND45.7bil.

Investment funds all think that it is now the right time for them to buy securities at low prices. Instead of having to buy stocks through auctions, where they have a lot of competitors, institutional investors now can be the only partners in direct negotiations. Investment funds can take full advantage of the difficulties of businesses (they are now seriously lacking capital) to buy stocks at low prices.

A representative of Anpha Capital, a fund management company, thinks that there is now a chance for new funds. Anpha Capital is seeking real estate projects, listed shares and private companies to inject money in.

In reality, opportunities always come after recessions, and the Asian financial crisis in 1997 is an example. At that time, Gemadept successfully purchased the capital contribution of a foreign partner in the golden land on Le Loi street, district 1, HCM City. The deal has brought about a big asset for Gemadept.

Hoang Anh Gia Lai Corporation spent money to buy back cleared land from investors who did not have money to develop the projects after site clearance. The deals have brought about the profit of several thousand billion VND as the real estate prices have skyrocketed.