The Hanoi-based brokerage, know as Agriseco, submitted a listing application last week and has been working with the exchange on the procedures, Nguyen Kim Hau, deputy general director, said in a telephone interview Monday.

“The exact date depends on the exchange, but we expect to list shares by December,” Hau said. Agriseco is the brokerage unit of Vietnam Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development.

The Southeast Asian country’s benchmark VN-Index has climbed 73 percent this year, after plunging 66 percent in 2008. The index is the second-best performer in the Asia-Pacific region so far this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Agriseco raised VND316 billion (US$17.7 million) by selling 30 million shares in an initial public offering on January 6 with an average winning price of VND10,521 per share.

The company expects to set an initial price for the first trading day of VND40,000, Hau said, without giving the amount of shares that will be listed. The stock traded at around VND33,000 in the so-called over-the-counter market late last week, according to Hau.

Vietnam’s companies typically hold an IPO first and then list the shares on the exchange later.