It took a pandemic to give Vietnam’s capital markets a fillip, push corporations to think beyond just bank loans to other forms of debt, and force a much-needed upgrade of the technology behind the country’s stock exchanges.
Take deal flow, for example. Vietnam’s primary equity capital markets were muted in 2020. Apart from a handful of small fundraisings, there were only two trades worth more than $100 million last year, Dealogic data shows. Commercial real estate developer Vinhomes raised D5.4 trillion ($237 million) from a follow-on offering of new equity in September. Sabeco, Vietnam’s largest beer producer, did a D4.9 trillion follow-on deal a month later.
Business is brisker this year, buoyed up by a couple of equity-linked bonds and a D3 trillion follow-on in March by Asia Commercial Bank. And in the debt capital markets, BIM Land, the real estate development arm of local conglomerate BIM Group, raised $200 million with an eye-catching, international green bond in April.
BIM Land’s 7.375% five-year deal marked the first time a Vietnamese company had tapped the international bond market for nearly two years; it was also the first green issuance from the country.