Vietnam Third Biggest Lender to Hit Stock Exchange in Stormy Year
The Joint Stock Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank), the third biggest lender by assets in the country, has submitted its plan to hit the local stock exchange early this year, an expected stormy year for global and domestic economy.
Vietcombank, with a registered capital of VND12 trillion (US$705.9 million), will list its 9.28 per cent stake, or a total of 112.3 million shares, on the Hochiminh Stock Exchange (HOSE) within next one month.
After the listing, Vietcombank shares coded VCB are expected to be a leader of the exchange’s index, instead of Sacombank’s shares (STB) currently, local media said.
The starting price for the shares, however, is not decided as it will have a great impact on the whole market, experts said. The winning price at the IPO of Vietcombank is up to VND105,000, while the VCB price on the OTC market is now only VND30,500.
Vietcombank, the first public lender to privatize, twice delayed its listing as it needs more time to prepare for it, not just due to the nosedive of the benchmark VN-Index last year, the bank’s Chairman Nguyen Hoa Binh said.
The government raised VND10.5 trillion (US$572 million) in December 2007 by selling a 6.5 per cent stake in Vietcombank which has so far not yet chosen its own foreign strategic partners.
VCB now still maintains as leading among 37 partly private banks in Vietnam. (Vietnam Economic Times, Labor)
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