Largest Vietnam fund manager eyes UpCom listing in first quarter

[HANOI] Vietnam’s biggest fund manager Dragon Capital Vietfund Management plans to list its shares on the Unlisted Public Company Market, or UpCom, in the first quarter, targeting a market capitalisation of at least US$150 million, according to chief executive officer Le Tuan Anh.

The company will list all of its 31.2 million shares on the UpCom, according to a statement on its website. It met the requirements to become a public company in November.

The planned listing adds fresh momentum to Vietnam’s accelerating wave of initial public offerings (IPOs), which analysts expect to remain robust for the next few years. Dragon Capital had projected more than US$40 billion in IPO proceeds between 2026 and 2028 amid a booming economy and stock market. That’s a big jump from the US$1.6 billion raised by companies from first-time share sales this year.

Tuan said that he is “very bullish” about Vietnam’s shares in the next three to five years, citing strong economic fundamentals and a stable political backdrop. He expects foreign investors, who withdrew nearly US$5 billion from the nation’s equities this year, to return as net buyers in 2026.

Next year, “will begin a new growth cycle for Vietnam after recent policy reforms”, Tuan said. “Policy advantages will become clearer”.

Tuan, whose fund manages about US$5 billion in assets, estimates earnings growth of around 18 to 20 per cent for Vietnamese firms next year. Infrastructure-related stocks and sectors that are aligned with the country’s broader economic expansion, such as banking and consumer goods, are well positioned to outperform, he added.

Vietnam’s benchmark VN Index has climbed 38 per cent in 2025, driven by solid economic growth and hopes for a promotion to emerging-market status as retail traders piled in.

The country has made notable progress this year in easing market access for overseas investors, including eliminating the pre-funding requirement for equity trades, raising foreign ownership limits in select banks and planning a centralised clearing system by 2027.

In October, the South-east Asian nation clinched a long-awaited upgrade from frontier status by FTSE Russell. Officials aim to win a similar move from MSCI by the end of the decade.

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Still, Tuan urged policymakers to allow up to 100 per cent foreign ownership in most sectors, excluding only those critical to national security, to enhance the market’s appeal to global investors. BLOOMBERG