Top Vietnam insurer delays listing to 2009
HANOI, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Vietnam's top insurer, Bao Viet, which is 10 percent-owned by HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA.L) (0005.HK), said on Friday it will delay until 2009 a domestic share listing earmarked for this year to 2009.
Bao Viet, which had planned to list on the over-the-counter Hanoi stock exchange .HASTCI, gave no reason for the delay.
Shareholders of the Hanoi-based group, formally known as the Vietnam Insurance Corporation, approved last October a domestic share listing in 2008, but last month the board sought to put back the listing. Shareholders have since agreed to that.
The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange .VNI, Vietnam's main exchange, closed up 4.7 percent on Friday. The market has fallen by more than half this year after gaining 23 percent in 2007.
The Hanoi market has also fallen 55 percent this year. (Reporting by Ho Binh Minh, Editing by Ian Geoghegan)
