“Undercurrents” at securities companies changing ownership

UP Securities Company (UPSC) is in the process of changing its ownership structure.

Continuously changing hands of power, "changing blood" of senior personnel

Recently, at some securities companies there are signs of a change of ownership. Along with the change in ownership structure, the change in leadership has entered a more obvious phase.

At Hai Phong Securities Joint Stock Company (Haseco - code HAC), the transfer of power in the past period has been continuous with a fairly quick transfer time when implementing agreements on the stock exchange.

In late September 2024 and early October 2024, large volume negotiated transactions on the stock exchange of HAC shares made a number of individuals become key major shareholders holding the majority of Haseco's capital after the group related to Hapaco Group divested.

In early June, in the trading session on June 6, a large number of HAC shares were once again traded by negotiation. Nearly 23.5 million HAC shares, equivalent to 80% of the outstanding shares, were transferred in just one session, showing that the shareholder structure of this securities company continued to fluctuate. The three major shareholders who bought capital from Haseco at the end of last year, Mr. Tran Anh Duc, Mr. Dao Son Tung and Mr. Vu Hoang Viet, all sold all/almost all of the shares they were holding on June 6.

Along with that, Haseco also quickly changed the entire Board of Directors (BOD). Right before the 2025 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM), all members of Haseco's BOD submitted their resignations for personal reasons, including the Chairman of the BOD, Mr. Ninh Le Son Hai (Mr. Hai just held this position in September 2024).

At the 2025 annual meeting held on June 26, Haseco shareholders agreed to reduce the number of members of the Board of Directors, dismiss the old Board of Directors of 5 members and elect a new Board of Directors with 2 members of the Board of Directors and 1 independent member, a total of 3 people. Of which, Mr. Dao Le Huy became the new Chairman of the Board of Directors of Haseco. On the same day, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nguyet, General Director of Haseco, also submitted a resignation letter for personal reasons, instead, Mr. Ninh Le Son Hai will take over as General Director of the enterprise.

Although the old shareholders have “released capital”, the list of new owners of this securities company has not been revealed. After changing ownership, Haseco is also planning to increase capital through a plan to issue individual shares to investors with the expected number of shares offered for sale being 100 million shares, 3.4 times the number of shares currently in circulation. The purpose of the offering is to supplement capital for business activities, especially margin and self-trading.

Another small securities company, UP Securities Corporation (UPSC), has just approved the appointment of a new Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mr. Chu Tuan An, for the 2025-2030 term of the Board of Directors, approved at the extraordinary meeting on June 28, 2025 after the "old man" Mr. Cao Tan Thanh resigned on June 24.

This change in the highest position comes in the context of the redrawing of UPSC's ownership structure. Mr. Cao Tan Thanh previously registered to receive the transfer of 51.25% of UPSC's capital, equivalent to 15.4 million shares he currently holds, the transfer period is from June 19 to July 4 by agreement, estimated to increase the ownership ratio from 30.61% to 82.41%. During the same period, 4 other major shareholders of UPSC simultaneously divested capital equal to the amount Mr. Cao Tan Thanh planned to buy.

Despite holding 82% of UPSC's capital after the transfer, Mr. Cao Tan Thanh still left the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors. The transfer of power of UPSC took place in a rather "roundabout" manner when once again, Mr. Chu Tuan An, the new Chairman of the Board of Directors of UPSC, was expected to receive the transfer of all 81.54% of the capital that Mr. Cao Tan Thanh currently owns. The extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders approved that Mr. Chu Tuan An would not have to carry out the procedure of publicly offering to buy these shares.

It is worth mentioning that Mr. Cao Tan Thanh has made similar transactions but at another securities company, Golden Lotus Securities JSC (GLS).

Mr. Cao Tan Thanh also collected additional GLS shares in late 2023 and early 2024. By April 2024, Mr. Cao Tan Thanh sold all of more than 60% of Sen Vang Securities' capital to a group of shareholders related to Xuan Thien Group - the current owner of Sen Vang Securities and withdrew from this Securities Company. During the period when Mr. Cao Tan Thanh was Chairman of Sen Vang Securities, Mr. Chu Tuan An also held the position of General Director at this Securities Company.

New investment cash flow, new ambitions

The trend of buying shares of small securities companies to complete the large ecosystem has been going on for the past few years and is still going on. On the side of securities companies, after receiving significant financial resources, new goals to serve big ambitions are also planned.

For example, Sen Vang Securities, after joining the group related to Xuan Thien Group in mid-2024, recently approved changing its name to Xuan Thien Securities Company (XTSC).

Along with that, the Company plans to increase its capital to 3,000 billion VND from the current 135 billion VND. The Company even plans to increase its capital to 20,000 billion VND and strive to join the Top 3 markets.

New growth plans have also been proposed, such as registering for derivative securities trading, adding proprietary trading services, underwriting securities issuance, etc. Sen Vang Securities expects to achieve revenue of VND 179 billion and after-tax profit of VND 70 billion in 2025. Previously, the Company suffered losses in 2022 and in the period of 2023-2024, with annual profits of less than VND 1 billion.

Changing ownership structure, senior personnel and preparing new plans for capital increase, expansion of scale… are being focused on by securities companies in the M&A area. This is also necessary in the context of the securities industry facing new opportunities, and the competitiveness in the industry is increasing. However, not all M&A deals create successful results.

Despite many unknowns, the M&A wave that is rolling through the Vietnamese securities industry is undeniable. As power is quietly changing hands, is there a new cycle emerging in the securities industry - where new names can emerge and redraw the industry map, or are these just short-term name and ownership changes that do not create real value?

Source: https://baodautu.vn/song-ngam-tai-cac-cong-ty-chung-khoan-doi-chu-d323886.html