Vietnam Foreign Net Selling 2026: VND 98,300bn Out, VND 23,400bn In Off-Exchange

Overview

Foreign investors net sold nearly VND 98,300bn (about USD 3.93bn) across Vietnam’s three stock exchanges in the first nine months of 2026, but a further VND 23,407bn of foreign buying through IPOs, private placements and rights offers was never recorded in exchange trading data. BIDV (BID, HOSE) was the largest single recipient of that off-exchange capital, taking VND 4,510bn in a private placement, with MBB, SSI and SHB also among the top five recipients.

Key Facts

• Foreign investors net sold approximately VND 98,300bn on the three exchanges in 9M 2026, with net selling in all nine months and above VND 10,000bn in each of the five consecutive months from March to July 2026.
• A separate VND 23,407bn of foreign buying was recorded across 22 companies via IPO, private placement and rights issuance, none of which appears in exchange trading statistics.
• BIDV raised VND 10,063bn in a private placement, of which foreign investors bought VND 4,510bn, or 45% of the deal.
• SSI drew VND 1,929bn and MBB VND 1,749bn from foreign investors; SHB followed at VND 1,159bn.
• The five largest recipients together accounted for VND 19,067bn, or 81.45% of total foreign participation in capital raisings.
• IPOs attracted VND 10,797bn (46% of the total), led by Điện Máy Xanh’s VND 13,315bn offering, in which foreigners bought VND 9,720bn, or 73%.
• Private placements accounted for VND 6,657bn (28%), with BID the largest single transaction in that category.

What Happened

The article, citing completed-offering statistics, argues that the headline foreign net-selling figure overstates actual capital withdrawal. With a finite pool of money, investors selling existing holdings to fund participation in new offerings still register as net sellers on the exchange even when the proceeds are recycled into freshly issued shares. The pattern is most visible where private placement pricing sits below the market price: existing shareholders can sell on-exchange and subscribe to the new issue at a lower price, producing a net-sell print alongside a capital injection.

Điện Máy Xanh’s IPO was the dominant transaction, at VND 13,315bn total and VND 9,720bn from foreign buyers, roughly 41.5% of all foreign money committed to 9M 2026 raisings. BIDV followed through a different channel, a VND 10,063bn private placement with 45% taken by foreign investors. SSI, MBB and SHB completed the group above VND 1,000bn. By participation ratio, Chứng khoán Phú Hưng (98%), Điện Máy Xanh (73%), Đạt Phương Group (64%) and VinaLiving (61%) ranked highest. The article does not disclose the identity of the foreign subscribers in any of these deals.

Market Context

BID closed at VND 33,900 on 8 October 2026, MBB at VND 18,900, SSI at VND 19,050 and SHB at VND 10,050. The four names span banking and securities, the two sectors that have absorbed the bulk of foreign primary-market capital this year even as secondary-market flows stayed negative. The divergence matters for how the VND 98,300bn net-sell number should be read: it measures exchange order flow, not total foreign exposure to Vietnamese equities.

Strategic Significance

For long-term investors, the relevant question is whether foreign capital is exiting Vietnam or rotating from listed secondary shares into primary issuance at negotiated prices. The concentration of VND 19,067bn, or 81.45% of foreign primary participation, in five issuers suggests selective conviction rather than broad withdrawal, and it gives banks and brokers a funding channel that does not depend on index flows. The recycling mechanism also implies that reported net selling can persist while foreign ownership in specific issuers rises, which distorts simple flow-based sentiment indicators.

What to Watch

• Disclosure of subscriber identities and lock-up terms in the BIDV private placement and the Điện Máy Xanh IPO.
• Monthly foreign net flow data for October and November 2026 to see whether the five-month streak above VND 10,000bn has broken.
• Foreign-ownership room filings at BID, MBB, SSI and SHB, which would show whether primary purchases lifted aggregate foreign stakes.
• Q3 2026 earnings releases from the four tickers, particularly any commentary on charter capital plans funded by foreign placements.
• Whether the State Securities Commission or HOSE moves to publish off-exchange foreign capital-raising data alongside trading statistics.