Ho Chi Minh City Securities Corporation (HSC) has announced the purchase of 10.6 per cent stake in Vietnamese taxi firm Vinasun (VNS) coinciding with Singapore GIC‘s decision to fully exit its four-year-old investment in the firm.
In a disclosure to Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, HSC said, it has purchased 7.2 million shares in Vinasun. HSC was said to have injected about VND104 billion ($4.57 million) to become the major shareholder in the taxi firm.
The 15-year-old-securities firm is now the third-largest shareholder of Vinasun after Chairman Dang Phuoc Thanh (35 per cent) and Southeast Asia focused private equity investor TAEL Partners (18.3 per cent).
HSC’s share purchase in the open market took place when the VNS scrip hit a low in the face of dwindling business prospects with the rise of ride-hailing players in the region.
From the peak of VND36,000 ($1.58) at the end of 2014, VNS shares now stand at VND14,000 ($0.61), down more than 60 per cent of the market price.
Singapore’s GIC, meanwhile, decided to fully exit its four-year-old investment in Vinasun by selling all its 5.4 million shares, equivalent to a 7.96 per cent stake it held in the taxi firm on May 25. At a price of VND13,900 ($0.6) apiece, GIC divested its holdings for VND75 billion ($3.3 million) at a discount.
Although Vinasun’s management has recently confirmed that the company had overcome the most difficult period since its inception, it still has to reduce targets of revenue and profit of this year.
Established in 2003, Ho Chi Minh City Securities Corporation provides financial services to individual, institutional, and corporate clients in Vietnam. The company operates brokerage and services, trading, lending, consultancy, and others segments.
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