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Eximbank cancels 2009 listing on financial turmoil
Vietnam Export-Import Commercial Joint-Stock Bank, partly owned by Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., has canceled its plan to list shares next year due to the global financial crisis.
“It is not a good time to list next year given both the domestic and world financial situations,” Le Thi Hoa, vice chairwoman of the lender known as Eximbank, said in an interview in Ho Chi Minh City Sunday. “We will consider better timing and seek approval from our shareholders later.”
The benchmark VN-Index has plunged 67 percent this year as foreign investors retreat from emerging markets amid a global recession. The government on November 6 lowered its growth target for next year to 6.5 percent from an earlier 7 percent.
The HCMC-based lender also reduced its registered capital target this year to VND7.2 trillion (US$425.5 million) from VND7.38 trillion ($436.1 million) planned in March, according to general director Truong Van Phuoc.
The bank would sell 297 million shares worth VND2.97 trillion next month to existing shareholders, Phuoc said.
As of the end of October, Eximbank had total assets of VND49.6 trillion ($2.9 billion) and its registered capital was VND4.2 trillion ($248.2 million), a 50 percent jump since the beginning of the year, according to a report released at a shareholders’ meeting Sunday.
Pretax profit was VND1.2 trillion ($71 million) in the first 10 months, an increase of 116 percent from a year earlier, the report said.
Eximbank has outstanding property loans of VND4 trillion ($236 million), or 18.2 percent of its outstanding debts, at the end of November, according to Phuoc.
It has sold a 15 percent stake to Sumitomo Mitsui, Japan’s third-largest bank by revenue, 5 percent to VOF Investment Ltd. of Virgin Islands, 4.5 percent to Mirae Asset Exim Investment Ltd. of South Korea, and 0.5 percent to Mirae Asset Maps Opportunity Vietnam Equity Balanced Fund 1, according to the report.
Bloomberg
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