With the starting price of VND128,000 (US$5.57) apiece, Techcombank, one of Vietnam largest commercial banks is expected to raise VND21 trillion (US$922 million) in an IPO scheduled in June 4.
Techcombank set high price for shares in upcoming IPO.
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"We are happy with positive responses from international investors. Our decision in allocating a large amount of shares to investors indicating a high demand for shares from diversified and credible investors," said Nguyen Le Quoc Anh, CEO of Techcombank.
"Another worthy mention is that it is also the first time for some investors making an investment in Vietnam."
The news also indicated investors are optimistic over the strong growth of Vietnam's middle class, Anh added.
Despite fastest growing banking markets, Vietnam's banking penetration rate remains very low, at just over 30 percent according to 2017 figures, compared to other Southeast Asian countries including Indonesia (56%), Thailand (71%) and Malaysia (77%), thus offering a strong headroom for growth.
The lender got a boost last month when Warburg Pincus agreed to invest more than US$370 million in the bank, in the largest ever private equity investment in the Southeast Asian nation.
The 25-year-old bank provides a broad range of banking products and services to more than 5.4 million customers in Vietnam with an extensive network of 315 branches across the country.
Morgan Stanley, Viet Capital Securities and Deutsche Bank are the joint global coordinators for the issue.
In 2017, Techcombank achieved total operating income of VND16.1 trillion and profit before tax of VND8.5 trillion (US$708 million and US$373 million, respectively), according to the bank's financial statement. Techcombank had industry leading profitability in 2017 with return on average equity of 28.0% and return on average assets of 2.7%.
Equity issues are booming in Vietnam as it speeds up a privatization drive. Strong interest from foreign investors and local funds has pushed up the benchmark index .VNI by 19% so far this year, making it one of Asia's best performers after rising nearly 50% last year.
