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Sep 15, 2018 / 06:43

Vietcombank to divest shares at Military Bank

At the starting price of VND19,641 (US$0.84) apiece, Vietcombank is expected to rake in proceeds of at least VND1.04 trillion (US$44.52 million).

Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) will auction 53.4 million shares out of the total 150.6 million shares its holds in Military Bank (MB), announced the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) on September 13. 
 
Illustrative photo.
Illustrative photo.
At the starting price of VND19,641 (US$0.84) apiece, Vietcombank is expected to book proceeds of at least VND1.04 trillion (US$44.52 million). 

The auction is scheduled to be held on October 15 at the HNX.

At the annual general meeting in 2018, Nghiem Xuan Thanh, Vietcombank's chairman, informed the bank's intention of divesting capital in other banks, of which Vietcombank holds more than 5% stake, including MB and Vietnam Export Import Commercial Bank (Eximbank). 

Specifically, Vietcombank currently holds a 6.97% stake or 150.6 million shares in MB and 8.24% or 101.2 million shares in Eximbank.

Once completing the sale of 53.4 million shares in MB, Vietcombank will reduce its holding at the bank to 4.5% and is no longer MB's major shareholder. 

At the close on September 14, MB's share value stood at VND22,600 (US$0.97) per share, down from the peak of VND36,800 (US$1.58) recorded on March 21. However, the current trading price is still higher than the Vietcombank's price on offer of VND19,641 (US$0.84) apiece. 

Vietcombank previously divested its shares in a number of credit institutions, including SaigonBank, Cement Finance Company (CFC) and entire shareholding in Orient Commercial Bank (OCB) on September 6. 

In the first six months of 2018, Vietcombank's pre-tax profit reached VND8 trillion (US$349.4 million), up 53% year-on-year, according to the lender's quarterly consolidated financial statement. 

As of June 30, Vietcombank's total assets were valued at VND977.6 trillion (US$42.7 billion), down 5.6% compared to the beginning of the year, mainly due to the bank's reduction in deposits at the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and other credit institutions.