Vietinbank has received in-principle approval from the Government to sell 10 percent of stake to International Finance Corp. (IFC), says Vietinbank Deputy Director Le Duc Tho.
The bank was still waiting on approval to sell another 15 per cent to Canada's Nova Scotia Bank, Tho said.
Once the transactions are carried out, Vietinbank would become the first partly State-owned bank to have succesfully partnered with strategic foreign investors.
Vietinbank is the second State-owned bank to go public, following Vietcombank in 2007. Vietcombank has so far been unsuccessful in finding a strategic foreign investor.
Meanwhile, the Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BIDV), Agribank and Mekong Housing Bank are all planning initial public offers (IPOs) this year.
Vietinbank, although reorganised as a joint stock commercial bank and listed on the HCM City Stock Exchange under the code CTG, is still over 89-per-cent owned by the State. In its IPO in December 2008, the bank sold shares representing 6 per cent of equity at an average price of VND20,265 (US$1.07) per share. Remaining non-State shares were sold to domestic strategic investors and employees.
The bank posted a profit of over VND3 trillion ($157.89 million) in 2009 and had assets of VND240 trillion ($12.63 billion) as of December 31, up 24 per cent from the previous year. Bad debts accounted for VND967 billion ($50.89 million), or 0.6 per cent, of total outstanding loans.
In 2010, Vietinbank has targeted a profit of VND4 trillion ($216 million) and total assets of VND300 trillion ($16.21 billion), a figure that would represent 25-per-cent growth.
The Ha Noi-based bank, which is hastening to open branches in Berlin, Frankfurt and Qatar, and is eyeing a joint venture with Qatar in Viet Nam, plans to poll shareholders in their April meeting on a proposal to increase charter capital this year from VND18 trillion ($947 million) to VND20 trillion (Over $1 billion).