Thanks to investors’ interest in its shares, Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank) has completed the sale of 165 million individual stocks at the price of VND39,000 ($1.71) apiece and earned more than VND6.4 trillion ($280.7 million).

After the sale, VPBank's chartered capital increased to VND15.7 trillion ($688.7 million) from VND14.1 trillion ($618.5 million). According to a representative of VPBank, the bank will spend VND500 billion ($21.9 million) upgrading the information technology (IT) system as well as expand its operations in 2017, VND100 billion ($43.8 million) will bee added as chartered capital to its subsidiary VPBank Assets Management Company (AMC), and another VND100 billion ($43.8 million) will be spent purchasing stakes in companies specialising in insurance and fund management.
More than VND5.7 trillion ($250.04 million) out of the VND6.4 trillion ($280.7 million) will be added to the medium- and long-term capital serving for the bank’s credit extension activities under its credit growth plan.
Earlier in late August, State Bank of Vietnam permitted VPBank to raise its credit growth limit to 20 per cent from the previous 16 per cent. Thus, the added capital from its individual stock offering is considered an advantage for its credit activities until the end of the year.
Previously, on August 17, VPBank officially listed 1.33 billion shares on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE), with the starting price of VND39,000 ($1.71). The move attracted the attention of numerous investors, especially foreign investors. Notably, the capital volume registered by foreign investors reached a record $1.2 billion, marking it the largest transaction on the stock exchange to date.
The registered share volume far exceeds the shares put on sale, thus the board of directors has convinced existing shareholders to decrease their holdings in the bank.
According to the financial report published on its website, as of July 31, VPBank’s equity reached VND20.25 trillion ($888.3 million), up VND3 trillion ($131.6 million), up 17.9 per cent since the beginning of the year.
In July alone, VPBank earned a consolidated pre-tax profit of VND903 billion ($39.6 million), increasing its cumulative consolidated profit in the first seven months to VND4.17 trillion ($182.9 million).