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Mar 19, 2018 / 15:13

Vietcombank to divest entire shares at OCB

Vietcombank plans to put its entire shareholding in Orient Commercial Bank (OCB) for auction, announced the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) on March 19.

Under the plan, Vietcombank will auction over 6.67 million OCB shares at the starting price of VND13,000 (US$0.57) apiece. The auction is expected to be held on April 17, according to HNX. 
 
Vietcombank will auction over 6.67 million OCB shares at the starting price of VND13,000 (US$0.57) apiece.
Vietcombank will auction over 6.67 million OCB shares at the starting price of VND13,000 (US$0.57) apiece.
The said share amount was what left of 18.9 million OCB shares, equivalent to 4.85% of charter capital that Vietcombank put on sale last year. However, only 13.1 million shares were purchased with an average price of VND13,000 (US$0.57) per share, raising over VND171 billion (US$7.6 million) in return. 

OCB previously capped the foreign ownership limit (FOL) at the bank to be at 23.66% of capital, but following the divestment from BNP Paribas on last December, the FOL has been now reduced to 4.98%, said OCB in a statement on December 27 2017. 

Consequently, foreign investors will not be allowed to take part in the upcoming auction of OCB shares.

In 2017, OCB posted pre-tax profit of VND1 trillion (US$43.7 million), 2.1 times higher than that of 2016, according to the lender's financial statement. The results is thanks to strong growth in investment and lending, which saw a net return of VND2.4 trillion (US$104.8 million), up 44.6% year-on-year. 

By the end of 2017, OCB's total asset reached VND84.3 trillion (US$3.7 billion), increasing 32% compared to the year beginning, while credit balance is recorded at VND48.1 trillion, up 25% over last year's period.

OCB's equity is estimated at VND6.1 trillion (US$266.5 million), 30% higher than in the year beginning. 

In an unrelated move, Vietcombank has completed selling 7.6 million shares of Vietnam Airlines for an average price of VND50,000 (US$2.18) per share, resulting in a net profit of VND210 billion (US$9.1 million). 

After completing the transaction, Vietcombank still holds 14.8 million Vietnam Airlines shares, equivalent to 1.21% charter capital. 

Vietcombank's consolidated pre-tax profit in 2017 reached VND11 trillion (US$485 million), a sharp increase of 32.9% over the last year and 16% higher than the target, making it the most profitable bank in the Vietnamese banking sector, according to the bank's year-end meeting on January 12 to prepare its targets for 2018

At the end of 2017, the bank's total capital was estimated at VND890 trillion (US$39 million), up 38.7% year-on-year and achieving 118% of the 2017 target. Notably, the growth rate of capital mobilization in the wholesale and retail sector was 19.6% and 21.9%, respectively.