Habubank has announced that it will list 300 million shares on the Hanoi Stock Exchange on Nov. 23 at an opening price of 15,000 VND per share, to be coded HBB.
Habubank has a charter capital of 3 trillion VND (143.2 million USD), of which Deutsche Bank holds 10 percent and domestic shareholders the remaining 90 percent.
"We do not expect a very high share price as the VN-Index peaked over two years ago, but we strongly believe that the listing will improve transparency [of governance] and liquidity for shares, allowing investors to more actively manage their assets," said Habubank vice chairwoman Bui Thi Mai.
Responding to concerns about major loans made to insolvent State-owned shipbuilder Vinashin, Habubank confirmed that most of the Vinashin loans were made to finance shipbuilding projects and secured by specific assets. The Hanoi-based bank said that it is working with State Audit to sell the secured assets to PetroVietnam.
Habubank posted a profit of 500 billion VND (23.86 million USD) in the first 10 months of this year and expected total profits by year's end of 600 billion VND (28.63 million USD), about 37 percent higher than in the previous year.
The bank has targeted to increase its charter capital to over 7 trillion VND (334.12 million USD) by 2014.
Habubank will be the eighth bank in Vietnam with shares listed on one of the nation's stock exchanges, following Eximbank (EIB), Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Sacombank (SCB), Sai Gon-Hanoi Bank (SHB), Nam Viet Bank (NVB), Vietcombank (VCB) and Vietinbank (CTG)./.
