South Korea’s Shinhan Investment Corp. acted as the bookrunner for a 400 billion dong ($17.6 million) issue by Vietnam Electrical Equipment Joint Stock Corporation (Gelex), the first Korean name to lead-manage a domestic offering in the Vietnamese debt market.

The Seoul headquarters structured the offering and Shinhan Investment’s Vietnamese entity underwrote the issuance. The bank did not disclose details of the pricing and maturity.

Gelex is Vietnam’s largest electrical equipment company that commands a share of more than 50 percent in the local market. Established by Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade in 1995, it was privatized in 2015 and is now listed on Ho Chi Minh City stock exchange.

Shinhan Investment has been rapidly gaining ground in Southeast Asia. Another country where it has been making significant progress is Indonesia, a market it entered in 2016. Just last year, it led the initial public offering of Campina, an Indonesian ice cream manufacturer, becoming the first Korean investment house to package an IPO in the country.

Earlier this year, Shinhan Investment installed a new division within its global investment banking headquarters to bolster its global IB capacity and pursue more businesses overseas.

By Jin Young-tae and Kim Hyo-jin

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