Trang Chủ
The Hanoi-based bank, with assets of $810 million, now needed to obtain a listing licence from the State Securities Commission for its debut on the Hanoi OTC market, a central bank statement quoted a directive signed by Governor Le Duc Thuy as saying.
Banks, unlike other companies that can go straight to market regulators to apply for a listing, have to secure central bank approval to apply.
If its application is approved, the bank, known as VIB, would be Vietnam's third bank to list on the domestic markets after Sacombank and Asia Commercial Bank .
But unlike the two Ho Chi Minh City-based banks which have sold shares to foreign investors, VIB has yet to take foreign investors on board.
The government caps foreign ownership in a listed bank at 30 percent with an individual investor limited to 10 percent.
VIB was founded in early 1996 by a number of institutions, including the state-run Agribank and Vietcombank, Vietnam's largest, and private businessmen. The bank did not say how much of VIB the two state-run banks owned.
VIB is among dozens of companies seeking to list on the Hanoi OTC market and the main stock exchange in Ho Chi Minh City before the end of the year to gain tax relief.
In a bid to boost Vietnam's stock market, the government has been offering 50 percent corporate tax relief to companies which make their market debuts by the end of 2006 and a race to meet the deadline has produced a rash of IPOs in recent months.
On Tuesday, the market capitalisation of the Hanoi OTC Securities Trading Centre soared 115.6 percent to $1.7 billion with the debut of Asia Commercial Bank , Vietnam's fifth-largest bank by assets after four state-run banks.
The Hanoi market opened in March 2005 now trades shares in 17 companies and ACB bank.
Source: Reuters, November 23, 2006
