OCB to list shares on Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, expects US$1 billion market value post-listing

vivian

May 21, 2018

OCB

21/5/2018 – Vietnam Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank (OCB) is expecting an increase in market capitalization to US$1 billion after a planned listing on the country’s benchmark bourse during the second half of the year.

According to OCB’s Chairman Trinh Van Tuan, the 22-year old bank plans to list 750 million shares on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE) during the late third quarter or early fourth quarter.

Besides, the bank also intends to sell 800 billion dong (about US$35 million) worth of shares to investors via private placement in the third quarter after issuing 14.2 percent of dividend shares and 20.5 percent of shares to existing shareholders.

With this, OCB expects to boost its registered capital by 50 percent to 7.5 trillion dong (about US$328 million) through the share issuances before its planned listing.

The lender also plans to offer as much as 25 percent of its shares to foreign investors before the listing, The bank is planning roadshows in Singapore, Hong Kong, and London in the next two months. Meanwhile, the bank has already garnered interest from multiple investors from Asia, Australia, and Europe,

“We are one of a few high-growth and good private banks in Vietnam that have more than a 25 percent stake available to foreign investors,” Tuan said, explaining that the country’s strong economy and stock market is providing the bank an opportune time to seek investors.

This year, the bank targets to expand its total assets by 37 percent to 116 trillion dong (about US$5.075 billion) and restricting its non-performing loans to below 2 percent. Moving forward, OCB also aims to reach an annual profit growth of 50 to 60 percent starting in 2019.

According to Tuan, the bank sees 2018 pretax profit doubling to 2 trillion dong, who with family holds nearly 18 percent of the lender’s shares.

OCB’s listing would make it the fourth Vietnamese bank to list on the nation’s major exchange this year, following HDBank, Tien Phong Bank and Techcombank, which plans to trade shares on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange next month.

vivian

Vivian Foo is a reporter who writes about Southeast Asia’s technology and startup space. The entry point which led her to write about the startup ecosystem was her fascination of the dot-com boom. She is taking a deep dive into how the entrepreneurial mindset works and hopes to share the insights, innovation, and stories of the startups with her readers.