A transaction office of SeABank (Photo: VietnamPlus) The Southeast Asia Commercial JointStock Bank (SeABank, coded SSB) has revealed a plan on the private placement ofnearly 95 million shares, equivalent to 4.63% of its current shares and over3.7% when the placement is completed, to a professional stock investor expectedto be the Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (Norfund).
SeABank said the offering price will be not lower than 12,861 VND (over 0.5USD) per share, which was stated in the audited 2022 separate financialstatement, and the highest price is expected at 37,032 VND per share. The bankis set to collect a minimum of more than 1.2 trillion VND and a maximum of over3.5 trillion VND from this deal.
Saigon - Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB, coded SHB) is alsoattracting foreign investors. Reuters recently cited its private source assaying that SHB is preparing to offer 20% of its shares’ value to a strategicpartner. The names of the parties concerned have not been disclosed, but someinformation sources said several potential investors from the Republic of Koreaand Japan have had meetings with SHB.
The value of this deal is hope tostand at 2 - 2.3 billion USD, and the transaction will be completed in 2023 orearly 2024 after getting approval from the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV).
Foreign investors’ ownership of SHB is just around 7% at present, much belowthe ceiling limit of 30% set by the SBV. This is considered a promising opportunityfor foreign investors.
Earlier, SHB finished the transfer of 50% of the charter capital of its SHBFinance Co. Ltd to Thailand’s Bank of Ayudhya Public Co. Ltd (Krungsri),a strategic member of the MUFG group of Japan, after over one year since SHBand Krungsri signed a capital transfer contract. The two sides will continuetransferring the remaining 50% after three years as stated in the contract.
Krungsri once said that it would spend 5.1 billion THB (156 million USD) on this transaction.
The stocks of SSB and SHB have also been listed in the basket of VN30 Index, which tracks the performance of the 30 largest stocks by marketcapitalisation and liquidity on theHo Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE). Insiders said the presence in the VN30basket will enhance these stocks’ attractiveness and values even further.
Meanwhile, more than 1.19 billion shares of Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank, codedVPB) will be offered through a private placement to Sumitomo Mitsui BankingCorporation (SMBC) of Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc (SMFG). Theyequal over 17.73% of VPBank’s current shares and 15% when the placement iscompleted.
The transaction will be made in thethird or fourth quarter of 2023 after the SBV approves and the State SecuritiesCommission confirms its reception of all necessary papers.
With a planned offering price of 30,159 VND per share, VPBank hopes to gainmore than 35.9 trillion VND (1.5 billion USD) and raise its charter capital by over 11.9 trillionVND. This deal will set a new record in transaction value in the bankingsector.
Likewise, leaders of Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam(Vietcombank), Lien Viet Post Joint Stock Commercial Bank (LPBank), and Nam A Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Nam A Bank) said their banks are planning toincrease charter capital by selling shares to foreign investors.
Nguyen Quoc Hung, Secretary General of the Vietnam Banks Association, said withrich experience, foreign banks and financial groups will make consideration beforepouring money so as to ensure profitability and improve the governance capacityof domestic credit institutions.
Many banks have reached or almost reached the ceiling limits of foreignownership. However, others still have low foreign ownership rates such asSeABank, Nam A Bank, Bac A Bank, BVBank, and KienLongBank. This is one of the factorsmaking Vietnamese banks more attractive to foreign investors, he opined./.
VNA
