Vietcombank (VCB) shareholders approved the bank’s plan to issue an additional 360 million shares, equivalent to 10 percent of its capital, to expand its charter capital to almost 39.6 trillion VND (1.74 billion USD).

The shares will be sold either to the public or offered to no more than 10 investors (including existing shareholders) in a private placement in late 2017 or next year.

Vietcombank plans to use about 3 trillion VND of the proceeds from the issuance to expand lending and other business activities, as well as fund possible mergers and acquisitions (M&As).

At the bank’s annual shareholders’ meeting on April 28, its chairman Nghiem Xuan Thanh said M&As would be a long-term strategy and should ensure that Vietcombank expands its network and accesses new markets.

Regarding this criteria, Thanh said Vietcombank has not yet found suitable partners.

Vietcombank has two major stakeholders, with the State Bank of Vietnam owns 77.11 percent and Mizuho Bank 15 percent. Mizuho is the only foreign strategic investor of Vietcombank.

Vietcombank is the most expensive bank on the stock exchange with a share price ranging around 35,000 VND (1.54 USD) a share. It is also the biggest listed lender with market capitalisation at 126.3 trillion VND (5.6 billion USD) on April 28.

Vietcombank’s shareholders also approved the 2017 business targets, including increasing pre-tax profit by 8 percent year-on-year to 9.2 trillion VND and increasing total assets 11 percent to 874.6 trillion VND. The dividend rate will remain at 8 percent this year.

The bank aims to expand its credit outstanding by 15 percent to 547.1 trillion VND, total capitalisation up 14 percent to 684.8 trillion VND and keep the bad debt ratio below 2 percent.

In the first quarter of this year, the bank reported pre-tax profits of nearly 2.65 trillion VND, up 15 percent year-on-year. Last year, it earned pre-tax profits of over 8.5 trillion VND, up 25 percent year-on-year. 

VNA