The Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam (Vietcombank) (HOSE: VCB) recently received a thumbs-up from the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) to list 1,595 billion worth of its shares on the domestic stock market.


According to Vietcombank, 90.73 per cent of its total shares are owned by the State, represented by the SBV.
Until recently, Vietcombank (Listed as VCB-HOSE on the HCM City Stock Exchange) has listed 163.18 million worth of its shares, nearly 9.2 per cent of the bank's total shares of 1.759 billion.
According to experts, listing shares would have a positive effect on the VN-Index which is calculated on the basis of the price fluctuation of listed share volumes on the stock market.
A road map for listed shares has not as yet been developed however.
At the bank's annual shareholders meeting in April, Vietcombank approved its own plan of raising its charter capital by 40 per cent to VND24.622 trillion (US$1.1895 billion) from the current VND17.587 trillion ($849.6 million) during the course of 2011.
Further plans include establishing a schedule for luring strategic foreign shareholders via the private placement of 20 per cent of the bank's total shares.
More than 492 million new shares, or 20 per cent of the total, are expected to go to foreign buyers, who in turn are expected to be banks, financial institutions and global investment organisations that want to expand operations in Asia, especially in Viet Nam.
Foreign buyers are expected to have successful investment experience and a financial capacity of at least regional proportions in order to help support the bank's development.
The price for private placements will be negotiated based on advice from international financial consultancies in order that Vietcombank and its shareholders could benefit accordingly.