SME Securities Company will list 15 million shares on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange today, becoming the second company to move its listing from the unlisted public securities market (UPCoM) after Trang An Securities Company, which listed shares on the exchange earlier this year.
Ha Noi Stock Exchange General Director Tran Van Dung said that about 10 more companies would move listings from UPCoM to the official bourse this year, beginning with firms in the securities and petroleum sectors.
Currently traded on UPCoM, APEC Securities Company, has already received approval to list 26 million shares on the Ha Noi exchange in the near future.
Nguyen Thanh Binh, Head of analysis for another Ha Noi-based securities firm with shares traded on UPCoM, said the movement of listings from UPCoM to the Ha Noi or HCM City stock exchanges has helped public firms avoid the complicated and more rigorous requirements of direct listings on the official market.
"When you list shares directly on the Ha Noi market, your company must comply with profit requirements, something hard to do immediately after the recovery from the financial crisis, especially for securities companies," Binh said.
Trang An Securities General Director Le Ho Khoi said that movement of his firm's listing to the Ha Noi stock exchange was allowed after the company posted a profit in 2009 following a loss in 2008.
SME Securities' listing of shares today was part of the company's strategy to improve competitiveness and increase business capacity and transparency, said the stock brokerage's General Director, Pham Minh Tuan.
SME Securities shares ended their last day of trading on UPCoM on March 29 at VND17,400 per share. Meanwhile, the firm expected shares to trade on their opening day on the stock exchange at VND20-25,000.