Race for talent is on as bankers brace for IPO boom in Vietnam

[HANOI] Vietnam’s potential upgrade to emerging-market status by FTSE Russell in September has investment banks bulking up staff in anticipation of a flood of initial public offerings (IPOs).

Brokerage VnDirect Securities aims to lift headcount in its investment-banking division by 20 to 30 per cent over the next 12 to 18 months, while Vietcap Securities, which recently advised the IPO of VPBank Securities, plans to expand its team by as much as 40 per cent next year.

That is to keep up with an expected pipeline of tens of billions of US dollars in equity debuts over the next two to three years.

Dragon Capital, Vietnam’s biggest fund manager, forecasts 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, the biggest haul since 2018.

“We are actively expanding our investment-banking division as this new wave is more obvious than ever, and it’s definitely not hype,” said Quynh Cao, head of institutional business at VnDirect.

VPBank Securities, the broking unit of Vietnam Prosperity JSC Bank, raised US$460 million in one of the year’s biggest public offering that was oversubscribed. VPS Securities, Techcom Securities and Vingroup’s hospitality unit Vinpearl have all raised funds in 2025 as the stock benchmark VN Index rallied 37 per cent.

The pipeline for first-time share sale looks busy heading into 2026, with Mobile World Investment and Masan Group planning IPOs of their units.

Additionally, real estate firm Gelex Infrastructure, as well as retail companies Golden Gate, Highlands Coffee and Sunhouse Group anticipate conducting their offerings as soon as next year.

SEE ALSO

Vietnam’s stock-market rally has one name behind it

Vietnam’s most ambitious US$67 billion North-South high-speed railway faces funding conundrum

Vietnam eyes tariff deal soon, as US seeks to cut huge trade deficit

That said, bringing on qualified employees in a growing but nascent market may be difficult for investment banks.

“Our biggest challenge is just staffing,” said Nguyen Thomas, chief global markets officer at SSI Securities. “Because there’s been a drought for so many years, there’s not a lot of experienced people.”

Manpower is not the only constraint. Regulatory hurdles include restrictive foreign ownership limits in certain sectors and requirements that companies show two consecutive years of profit before applying for an IPO.

In 2023, Pham Nhat Vuong, the country’s richest person, took his electric vehicle company VinFast Auto public following a merger with a blank-check company in what was the biggest listing from a South-east Asian company in the US.

With Mekong Capital-backed Gene Solutions planning an IPO in either the Hong Kong or Singapore stock exchanges, Vietnam faces an uphill task of keeping its best companies home.    

Vietnam is addressing some of those issues. Companies now have just 30 days to list their shares after an IPO, down from 90 days previously, reducing the time investors’ funds are locked up. That helps bankers to convince domestic and global investors to invest in local offerings.

Vietnam needs to actively leverage its promotion to emerging-market status as a “selling point” to attract new listings, Dragon Capital said. The upgrade will create favourable conditions for a healthier IPO pipeline, it said. BLOOMBERG