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VietinBank wins Hanoi's permission for overseas bond
Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank - CTG), has won government approval to issue bonds overseas, a stock exchange announcement said.
The country's biggest partly private lender by assets hopes to raise $500 million by issuing five- or 10-year bonds, the state-run Dau Tu Chung Khoan (Securities Investment) magazine quoted VietinBank Deputy Chief Executive Le Duc Tho as saying.
Tho did not say when or where the bond sales would take place, but the report said HSBC and Barclays were advising it.
The lender had received government approval for the bond issue, a report filed with the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange said late on Tuesday.
In August, VietinBank sent out requests for proposals for a $500 million bond, raising eyebrows as market players questioned whether an international bond of that size for a Vietnamese bank was overly ambitious given global economic conditions, Thomson Reuters' IFR reported.
Last May, Vietnamese football-to-rubber conglomerate Hoang Anh Gia Lai issued a $90 million five-year bond, which was increased from an initial size of $75 million. HAGL's five year bullet bond priced at 95.76 and a coupon of 9.875 percent for a yield of 11 percent.
A VietinBank bond issue would test the appetite of foreign investors for Vietnamese debt, which has been weak since the late 2010 default by state-owned Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group, or Vinashin, on a $600 million syndicated loan.
Vietnam's central bank is also planning to overhaul the banking system, which is riddled with non-performing loans.
Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Holding, or Vinacomin, the state mining company, had interest in doing a $500 million bond in 2010 but a sale did not proceed.
In December, VietinBank sealed a deal for a one-year $62 million loan with three banks, Thomson Reuters Basis Point reported in January.
International Finance Corp, an affiliate of the World Bank, bought a 10 percent stake in VietinBank in early 2011.
Its shares fell 2.13 percent at 22,900 dong ($1.10) at 0332 GMT.
reuters
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