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World Bank arm eyes stake in ABBank
The World Bank’s International Finance Corporation said in its website that it is plans to invest in An Binh Commercial Joint Stock Bank.
It will buy convertible bonds for around US$50 million and provide a $25 million loan to the bank, including $5 million from its Clean Technology Fund.
The investment will help ABBank, as An Binh is known, ensure capital adequacy which has recently been raised to 9 percent of assets, the international norm for banks under the Basel II agreement.
The $25 million loan is meant to help businesses undertake environmental protection and energy saving activities, and is consistent with the World Bank’s goal of using the market mechanism to mitigate the impacts of climate change in Vietnam.
ABBank has a tie-up with the IFC for two programs - consultancy for small and medium-sized enterprises and support for firms committed to environmental protection and energy saving.
IFC also pledged to provide supports on technique, customer consultancy and improve corporate management for the local bank.
ABBank has a chartered capital of VND3.5 trillion ($179.5 million) which is likely to rise to VND3.83 trillion following a proposed bonus issue at the end of this year at the rate of one share to every 10 held.
Its main shareholders include the Electricity of Vietnam Group with 24 percent, Malaysia’s Maybank (20 percent), and its chairman, Vu Van Tien (17 percent).
The bank has assets of VND36.26 trillion and outstanding loans of around VND18 trillion.
In the first nine months it reported a pretax profit of VND546.2 billion, a year-on-year rise of 94 percent.
Last week the IFC also signed a memorandum of understanding to invest in the Vietnam Commercial Joint Stock Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank).
VietinBank said the IFC plans to buy a 10 percent stake for $190 million.
Thoai Tran
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