Vietnam Investment Securities Company (IVS) will merge with Japan Securities Incorporated (JSI) to boost the number of customers, financial capability and expand the operation to Japan.

After the merger, the capital of IVS will increase to VND372 billion (US$16.53 million), IVS said in its statement at the annual shareholder meeting held on Saturday.

The merger will make JSI a department at IVS, and it will focus on the Japanese market only. Current shareholders of JSI will commit not to withdraw from it in the next three years after the merger is approved by the State Securities Commission.

However, the company did not clarify in its statement when the merger would take place.

The merger was also approved by the shareholders of JSI at the firm’s annual shareholder meeting held on March 14.

Vietnamese shareholders hold 48.87 per cent of JSI’s capital now, including Viglacera Investment and Import-Export JSC (10 per cent).

Japanese shareholders hold the rest of the company’s capital, including the Hong Kong-based Tanamark Investment Ltd (20 per cent), Aizawa Securities Co Ltd (14.5 per cent) and Japan Asia Securities Co Ltd (14.5 per cent).

In 2016, IVS earned a total revenue of VND26 billion and a post-tax profit of VND97.4 million. The figures were 95 per cent and only 5 per cent of last year’s targeted earnings. IVS will not pay dividend for last year’s performance.

In the third quarter of 2016, IVS issued 17.9 million shares to increase its chartered capital from VND161 billion to VND340 billion.

For 2017, IVS has forecast Viet Nam’s economic growth at 6.5 per cent to 6.7 per cent and inflation rate at 4 per cent to 5 per cent, allowing the Government to keep the lending rates low and support the growth of the securities market.

According to the company, Vietnamese economy will reach its short-term peak in three years. — VNS