Credit Suisse Becomes Vietcombank's Equitization Advisor

The Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank), the second-largest state-owned lender, on February 12 signed a contract to hire the global investment bank Credit Suisse of Switzerland to advise its equitization.

 

Under the contract, Vietcombank will conduct an initial public offering (IPO) in July. The bank will select strategic investors in October and execute an international IPO in 2008.

 

Credit Suisse will act as equitization consultant for Vietcombank, in which the Swiss firm will gather its leading experts for the process, providing the Vietnamese bank with value-added services, administration skills, and training on the management of bad debts, risks and assets.

 

Vietcombank general director Vu Viet Ngoan said after the IPO, the bank will list shares on local stock exchange in 2007 and a foreign stock market in 2008.

 

The Government will retain 70 per cent stake in Vietcombank and sell the remaining 30 per cent stake to public, including 10 per cent to foreign strategic partner, Ngoan said.

 

As the end of December 2006, Vietcombank’s total assets reached VND170 trillion ($10.6 billion) and equity amounted to VND11.2 trillion ($700 million).

 

Also at the signing ceremony, Vietcombank announced its credit ratings assigned by the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s.

 

Accordingly, Vietcombank has been rated at “BB/B”, a strong position in the domestic market, but its asset quality was weak by international standards due to high exposure to state-owned enterprises. (Vietnam Economic Times, Saigon Liberation)