Indigo Technology May Bag Vietnam Se Deal

The Indigo Technologies India, in combination with Compaq, is likely to bag a mandate to design and set up Vietnam's first capital market system and stock exchange.

The Vietnam government, with the aid of some multilateral funding agencies, has decided to develop a capital market system. The government has set a target of kicking off trading in the first inter-connected stock exchange by the last quarter of 1999.

"As a first step, Indigo will perform a consultancy's role in designing a stock exchange,'' Indigo Technologies' president and chief executive officer Sashi Chimala told Business Standard.

Vietnam presently does not have a capital market system at all. Besides the government, banks, institutions, insurance companies and a few corporates have shown interest in setting up a stock bourse.

 

Almost all the companies in that country are closely held at the moment. While promoter groups hold the bulk of the equity in these firms, banks and institutions also hold some equity.

"Authorities in Vietnam expect about 15 companies to be listed initially. This number is likely to grow,'' Indigo's senior consultant, securities, V Santhanam, said. "There is a widespread expectation that a lot of interest in companies will be generated once they get listed on the country's first stock exchange," he added.

"Companies in Vietnam will for the first time be offering their shares to the public. A few companies are gearing up for public issues to get listed. Others may get listed through offers for sale made by institutional shareholders,'' he explained.

The stock exchange is also expected to start off without any minimum floating stock specifications to encourage more firms to get listed.

A team from Indigo was in Vietnam recently and had made presentations on the development of a capital market system in the country.

Once the various parameters for the Vietnam stock exchange have been defined, a competitive bidding process is expected to be initiated to identify the developer.

The Indigo Technologies India-Compaq combination has already done the automation work for the Madras and Dhakka stock exchanges. It has also bagged the contract for the automation of the upcoming Integrated Stock Exchange (ISE) in the country.

Meanwhile, Indigo Technologies India's stock exchange automation software, TESA, is set to go live on the Dhakka Stock Exchange on Monday.

Very much similar to the 'Mantrra' system which the company had installed in the Madras Stock Exchange (MSE), Indigo has customised the software to the specific requirements of the Dhakka bourse.

Indigo was initially scheduled to complete the automation of the Dhakka Stock Exchange during the middle of last year. However, political turmoil in that country had delayed the launch.