|
VIB forecasts profit rise, plans 2008 listing
Vietnam International Bank (VIB), the country’s eighth-largest lender, projected on Friday that its gross profit would jump 65 percent this year to VND700 billion (US$43.6 million).
The Hanoi-based bank said in a statement it would issue new shares to raise its registered capital by 50 percent to VND3 trillion, sell part of the issue to foreign investors and consider listing on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange this year.
VIB, worth $180 million based on its $0.9 share price it trades at on the unofficial market, has also projected raising its assets by 32 percent to VND52 trillion ($3.22 billion) by the year-end.
It did not name foreign candidates who would buy VIB shares.
The central bank plans to keep the country’s credit growth at 30 percent this year after loans jumped 54 percent last year.
The economy expanded 8.5 percent.
VIB said its audited net profit more than doubled to VND306.5 billion ($18.95 million) last year and total assets also soared to VND39.32 trillion ($2.44 billion) from VND16.6 trillion ($1.03 billion) in the previous year.
The lender’s plan to sell a stake to foreign investors follows eight other partly private banks, half of them have each sold a 15 percent stake to a foreign bank in the past several years.
The four others sold 10 percent each.
The government caps foreign ownership in a domestic bank at 30 percent and limits strategic investor ownership to 15 percent.
VIB was founded in early 1996 by a number of institutions, including state-run Agribank and Vietcombank, as well as private businessmen.
Vietcombank, the country’s third-largest lender, owns 2.45 percent of VIB.
Thanhnien
|
