Việt Nam’s equity market has entered unfamiliar territory, with share auctions virtually frozen and major share sales fizzling out despite high expectations.

 

According to official data from the Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi Stock Exchanges (HoSE and HNX), only three block trades have successfully closed so far in 2025, totalling a mere VNĐ29 billion (US$1.1 million), an unprecedented low in recent years.

 

The floundering state of the share-auctioning market marks a dramatic reversal from the explosive growth of 2015 – 2018, when headline 'bombshell' privatisations generated immense investor enthusiasm. After topping nearly VNĐ130 trillion in 2017, the volume of shares sold via auction has steadily deflated.

 

Most anticipated to revive the market were high-profile listings such as Becamex’s proposed sale of 300 million shares and the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC)’s divestiture of Domesco. Yet neither has materialised.

 

Becamex set an initial bid price of VNĐ69,600 per share for its April 28 HoSE auction, aiming to raise approximately VNĐ20.88 trillion. But under pressure from US retaliatory tariffs, the company delayed the move when investor demand cooled with falling share prices. Becamex is now planning to resubmit the proposal to shareholders in July.

 

Similarly, the SCIC failed to attract bidders twice in its planned sale of 12.1  million Domesco shares, equivalent to a 34.7 per cent stake, at a starting price of VNĐ127,046 per share, well above market value.

 

Amid the flatlining auction market, a rare bright spot has emerged: Vingroup’s high-profile listing of Vinpearl (with the symbol ticker of VPL), valued at approximately $5 billion.

 

VPL’s IPO injects much-needed momentum into Vietnamese capital markets and serves as a counterpoint to the flopped share auctions.

 

The stark contrast between VPL’s success and the stalled share auctioning highlights ongoing structural challenges.

 

The bottleneck in state-equitisation programmes, once a primary source of large-scale supply, stands at odds with investor demand for fresh listings and high-quality assets.

 

The flip side is a growing appetite for alternative access routes, such as high-profile IPOs like Vinpearl or spinoffs from large conglomerates.

 

On the stock market, BCM shares dipped on Thursday, down 2.64 per cent to VNĐ66,400 per share. VPL also fell slightly, down 0.53 per cent. — BIZHUB/VNS