Vincom Retail, a subsidiary of Vietnamese property developer Vingroup, listed 1.9 billion shares on November 6 on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, taking another a step toward its ambitious plans for nationwide expansion. This is also the first shopping mall operators in Vietnam listing shares on the stock exchange. 
At present, among shareholders of Vincom Retail, Saidong Urban Investment & Development JSC (SDI), a subsidiary of Vingroup has the largest shares of 32.25% (equivalent to more than 613.08 million shares), Vingroup (VIC) owns 18.37% (349 million shares), and possible foreign ownership is capped at 49%. Two foreign shareholders being Amsterdam-based WP Investments III and Credit Suisse Singapore hold 15.2% and 5.1%, respectively, and together have invested $300 million since 2013.
The shopping mall operator debuted amid light trading to close at 40,550 dong a share, valuing the company 77 trillion dong ($3.38 billion) and making it one of Vietnam's top 10 listed names by market capitalization. Foreign investors, including the Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, on Tuesday acquired 415 million, or 21.8%, of listed shares, for 40,600 dong apiece.
The listing followed an initial public offering (IPO) last month that raised a record $709 million through private placements. This is the country’s largest IPO in a decade, trailing only the 2007 share sale from Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam JSC when it was chosen for a government pilot program for privatization in the banking sector. The last first-time share sale that topped $100 million came from local airline VietJet Aviation JSC, whose shares are up 48 percent since they started trading in February.
Vincom Retail was founded in 2012 to develop modern retail channels and operations, becoming a private company a year later. After starting out with three malls, it now has three subsidiaries and 41 malls operating on four platforms: Vincom Center, Vincom Mega Mall, Vincom+ and Vincom Plaza. The company plans to have 200 malls by 2021.
Vincom Retail currently has shopping centers in 22 cities across Vietnam with a gross retail floor area exceeding 1.1 million sq. meters. They account for 60% of retail space in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, according to research by Colliers International. The existing prime assets of Vincom Retail include Vincom Dong Khoi and Vincom Thu Duc in HCM City, Vincom Ha Long in Quang Ninh Province, Vincom Ngo Quyen in Da Nang City, and Vincom Ba Trieu, Vincom Long Bien, Vincom Mega Mall Royal City and Vincom Mega Mall Times City in Ha Noi. Vincom Retail competes with Japan's Aeon and Takashimaya, France's Auchan, South Korea's E-Mart and Lotte, Malaysia's Parkson, Thailand's Robinson and Big C and Vietnam's own Co.opMart.
Vincom Retail saw 81% compound annual growth in revenue from 2014 to 2016, boosted by numerous launches and a thriving property market, according to reports from Saigon Securities. Last year, sales reached 6.3 trillion dong and net profit totaled 2.4 trillion dong.This year, the company forecasts revenue to decline 28% to 4.6 trillion dong and net profit to fall 13% to 2.1 trillion dong, owing to changes in leases and malls under construction.
