Up to 76 foreign investors were granted stock certificates by HCM City Development Bank (HDBank) at a ceremony held at the bank’s head office on Thursday.

The bank’s new strategic partners invested a total of more than VND6.8 trillion (US$300 million) into the separate issuance of 14.26 million shares, equivalent to 20 per cent of the bank’s total share ownership. Each investor could hold not more than a 3 per cent stake.

Investors included foreign funds and international financial institutions (FIs) that are currently pouring into the Vietnamese stock market, such as Credit Saison and AOZORA Bank from Japan, Germany’s Deutsche Bank AG, Macquarie Bank from Australia and JPMorgan Vietnam Opportunities Fund, RWC Frontier Markets Opportunity Master Fund, Chalemass and Dragon Capital from the United Kingdom.

“We decided to invest in HDBank after three years of strategic partnership in the segment of consumer finance,” Akihiro Matsuda, general manager of the Overseas Management Department at Credit Saison, said.

“We highly appreciate the bank’s performance, especially the stellar growth rate of its business operations, total assets, business network, and the exceptional profitability of a “rising star” in the banking field, as well as the bank’s leadership and vision, indicating HDBank’s vision and prospects of business development in the next five years,” he said.

Le Thanh Trung, deputy general director of HDBank, said the fact that over 70 foreign investors, all exceedingly reputable FIs, purchased HDBank’s shares, proved an appreciable interest from financial investment bodies, enabling the bank to achieve greater accomplishments over the following years.

Earlier, HDBank launched the first share offering for existing shareholders, with each share for VND32,000 ($1.4). The bank also separately issued 98 million shares for its current active shareholders, gaining some VND3.2 trillion.

Following the first offering, the bank was reported to have charter capital of VND9.8 trillion, with a surplus of VND2.1 trillion. HDBank expects to list its shares on HCM Stock Exchange in early 2018. — VNS