An HDBank teller counts Vietnamese dong notes. Petrolimex, which holds a 40% stake in the Petrolimex Group Commercial Bank (PGBank), sought to complete the merger between PGBank and the HCMC Development Bank before August 31 – PHOTO: HDBANK

“We can’t wait for the merger any longer… As a large shareholder, we are under more pressure than others,” said Tran Ngoc Nam, a board member of PGBank and a representative of Petrolimex’s stake in the financial arm. The largest fuel retailer by market capitalization has a 40% stake in PGBank and is also the major shareholder.

If the merger fails to go through before August 31, Petrolimex will sell its entire stake to another investor. However, the plan will be implemented cautiously so as to not violate the terms of the merger contract, Nam said at an annual meeting today, June 24.

Nguyen Quang Dinh, chairman of PGBank, said the lender is in the process of merging but the State Bank of Vietnam has not approved the final project yet. The central bank gave its in-principle approval to the deal in September 2018.

This year, PGBank plans to raise its total assets by 7.7% to some VND34 trillion, with credit up 6.6% and mobilization up 8.3%. The bank expects to recover bad debts worth VND521 billion and list on the market for unlisted public companies or UPCoM. SGT