The Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BIDV), the nation's second largest bank in terms of total assets, officially announced its initial public offering (IPO) which is scheduled to launch on December 28th.

Under the equitisation plan approved by the Prime Minister on Wednesday, BIDV will sell shares to its employees and trade union before December 31, announced BIDV chairman Tran Bac Ha in a press briefing in Ha Noi yesterday.

The bank will hold its first shareholders meeting in the first quarter of 2012 and list its shares on the HCM City Stock Exchange no later than the end of the third quarter.

The bank also plans to sell stakes to strategic foreign investors later next year.

As of November 30, BIDV had total assets of VND403 trillion (US$19.19 billion) and a pre-tax profit of VND4.1 trillion ($195 million).

In its equitisation process, the bank would issue 84.7 million shares, accounting for 3 per cent of its charter capital, Ha said.

The bank would continue selling shares in different periods, eventually reducing the State interest in the bank to as little as, but no less than, 51 per cent, he said.

The bank's charter capital was VND28.2 trillion ($1.34 billion) and would be divided into two selling periods. In the first period, the total number of shares issued will account for 22 per cent of the total charter capital, including 3 per cent for the public, 1 per cent for its employees, 3 per cent for trade unions and 15 per cent for strategic foreign investors.

In the second period, BIDV will issue shares accounting for less than 20 per cent of its charter capital for strategic foreign investors and reduce State ownership to less than 65 per cent.

BIDV posted a pre-tax profit of VND4.1 trillion ($195 million) for the year with a bad debt rate of 2.6 per cent and a capital mobilisation rate of VND274 trillion ($13 billion).

Its audited enterprise value released by the State Audit of Viet Nam at the end of last year was VND381 trillion ($18.1 billion), including VND40.2 trillion ($1.9 billion) in State owned capital.

VNS