Foreign ownership in Vietnam stock markets - an empirical analysis

This paper investigates foreign ownership in the Vietnam stock market from 2007 to 2009 employing a rich and detailed dataset. From the perspective of informational asymmetry, the paper examines the relationship between the foreign ownership level and attributes of Vietnamese listed firm in Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange. The findings of the paper indicate that foreign investors have preference for large firms, firms with high book-to-market ratio and firms with low leverage. Foreign investors also avoid firms with dominant shareholders and prefer to invest in firms where they can have influence. The results imply that foreign investors favor to invest in firms where they can avoid informational asymmetry.