Nam Long, a leading affordable housing developer in Vietnam, has just announced the transfer of VND500 billion in convertible bonds to Keppel Land, making it a corporate strategy partner.

The State Treasury of Viet Nam sold VND7.467 trillion (US$334.4 million) worth of government bonds on April 13, auction organiser Ha Noi Stock Exchange said.

In the first quarter of this year, the total traded value of bonds and bills in the secondary market via outright and repo transactions was VND258.99 trillion ($11.6 billion), up by nearly 30 per cent from the start of the quarter, and up 9.45 per cent compared to the same period last year. Although outright transactions declined 5.69 per cent year-on-year, they still dominated the secondary market, contributing 63.16 per cent of the total transaction volume, equal to VND163.57 trillion ($7.34 billion), which was an increase of 23 per cent quarter-on-quarter. Repo transactions surprisingly surged 42.21 per cent quarter-o-quarter, and 51.02 per cent year-on-year, reaching VND95.42 trillion ($4.28 billion), and accounting for 36.84 per cent of the total transaction volume.

In order to comply with the 2016 socio-economic plan and meet the state budget for development and investment, regular expenditures, and debt repayment, the raising of capital through government bond channels continues to play an important role.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private lending vehicle of the World Bank Group, said it planned to extend a $50 million financing facility to Viet Nam-focused fund management firm Dragon Capital.

The musical group Bond is excited about returning for its second performance in Vietnam and to headline at the 2016 Lexus Music Night in Hanoi on March 25 said the band’s publicist in a news release.

The Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX) sold VND28.3 trillion (US$1.26 billion) worth of government bonds issued by the State Treasury of Viet Nam in eight auctions in February.

Real estate developer Vingroup (VIC) announced that it has sold VND3 trillion (US$133.9 million) of corporate bonds under the guarantee of Credit Guarantee and Investment Facility (CGIF), a trust fund of the Asian Development Bank.

In the second half of the year, sovereign credit default swap spreads for Vietnam and three emerging Southeast Asian nations bounced back after dropping significantly in 2014 and remaining low during the first quarters of 2015.

Terms for bonds issued by the Viet Nam Asset Management Company to buy bad debts from credit institutions, will be extended from five years to 10 years in some cases.

The HCM Stock Exchange on February 15 honoured securities firms that had the largest market share in 2015 of stocks, fund certificates and bonds, and consultancies for listing and auction, among other categories.

Through open market operations, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) exercises control over the liquidity of the banking system. During 2015, the bank injected a large volume of money to spur credit growth, and facilitate the purchase of government bonds and USD (from the SBV). It also extended the tenor of lending in the fourth quarter  for the first time in 2015.

The total value of traded bonds and bills in the secondary market in 2015 via outright and repo transactions was VND930,495 billion (USD42.5 billion), up by only 3.5 per cent compared to the previous year.

Yields of Government bonds with terms five years or longer will likely rise this year, VPBank Securities said in a report yesterday.

In spite of disappointingly low issuance during the first three quarters of the year, total issuance volume in the last quarter of 2015 reached a two-year high of VND130,666 billion ($5.96 billion) due to the availability of short-term bonds and new products. However, even with this late surge, total issuance still failed to meet the annual target, fulfilling only 51 per cent of total planned volume for the year.