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VietinBank raises $250 mln in overseas bonds
* Raises $250 mln in first tranche
* Test of investor appetite for Vietnamese debt
* Vietnam's credit ratings downgraded last year
VietinBank, Vietnam's largest partly private lender, has raised $250 million in its first overseas bond issue this year, a senior executive said on Friday, in a test of investors' appetite for the country's debt.
VietinBank, or Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade, plans to raise $2 billion this year and had initially aimed at $500 million in the first tranche. .
But the Hanoi-based lender reduced the debt offer by half with an annual coupon of around 8 percent and sold it in Europe, Asia and the United States, Deputy Chief Executive Le Duc Tho told Reuters.
"We will continue to sell more bonds in accordance to our needs and the market condition," he said. HSBC and Barclays are advisers for the issue.
Foreign interest in Vietnamese debt 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 credit ratings were downgraded last year by Moody's, Fitch and Standard and Poor's, potentially raising the cost of capital for its companies.
VietinBank has projected its annual gross profit to rise 11 percent this year to 9 trillion dong ($432.3 million), while the lender's total assets would jump 19 percent from 2011 to 550 trillion dong.
The bank's shares were up 2.2 percent at 23,000 dong ($1.1) each at 0328 GMT on Friday.
Another bank, Vietcombank, which is the country's fourth-largest lender by assets, plans to sell $1 billion worth of bonds in international markets, its chairman said in late March.
In March Vincom Joint Stock Co, Vietnam's leading real estate developer, raised $185 million via five-year dollar bonds, at an annual coupon of 5 percent.
reuters
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