|
Vietnam's Central bank approves Habubank takeover
Vietnam's central bank has approved in principle the acquisition of troubled lender Habubank by SHB , a senior Habubank official said on Wednesday.
Soaring inflation and the collapse of the property market have led to unsustainably high loads of bad debt at a number of Vietnamese banks, and the State Bank of Vietnam last year responded by launching a plan to restructure the sector through mergers and acquisitions of the weakest lenders.
The Habubank takeover still requires the approval of Habubank's shareholders, who are scheduled to meet on April 14, before the State Bank of Vietnam gives a final green light, said the official at Hanoi Building Commercial Joint-Stock Bank, or Habubank. The official declined to be identified by name.
If the merger takes place, the Habubank brand will cease to exist and its shares will be converted into shares of SHB, or Saigon-Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank, the official told Reuters.
Calls to senior SHB officials were unanswered and Dao Minh Tu, head of the office of the central bank and the main contact point for media, declined to comment.
Habubank's shares closed up 1.5 percent on Wednesday at 7,000 dong ($0.34) while SHB shares slipped 2.8 percent to 10,600 dong.
The State Bank of Vietnam has divided the country's banks into four categories of health and in mid-February allocated annual credit growth targets for 2012 to each category accordingly, ranging from no growth for the weakest banks to 17 percent for the healthiest.
Habubank was in the penultimate category with a credit growth target of 8 percent while SHB received a target of 17 percent, state media have reported.
Late last year the State Bank arranged for three weak lenders to merge , and governor Nguyen Van Binh has said eight to 10 banks would be merged this year.
The central bank has said it would encourage lenders to merge voluntarily, otherwise it would force ailing ones to do so.
State-run lenders and commercial banks may also buy ailing lenders' good assets and debts to settle loans that come due.
CNBC
|
