(Ho Chi Minh City, January 5, 2018) After receiving listing approval from the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, Ho Chi Minh City-based commercial lender HDBank successfully debuted on the southern bourse late last week under the ticker code HDB.
With chartered capital surpassing VND9.8 trillion ($445 million) and a reference price of VND33,000 ($1.50) per share in its first trading session, the market cap of HDBank comes to around 32.37 trillion ($1.43 billion). This puts the bank among the top 20 businesses on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HOSE) in terms of market cap, and helps banking stocks account for 21 per cent of the southern bourse’s market cap.
Local banking stock is scoring a great deal of attention from international investors, reflected through recent stake offers in the hundreds of millions of US dollars.
Before appearing on HOSE, foreign investors – predominantly leading financial institutions – had spent about $300 million on acquiring a 21.5 per cent stake in HDBank.
With around 8.5 per cent of its foreign-ownership cap unoccupied when the ticker went on bourse, the bank stock saw a significant boost. Many banking stocks currently on the bourse have no more room for foreign investors.
HDBank’s debut also marked a smooth beginning for large-cap businesses on the Vietnamese stock market. The southern lender going on bourse has enhanced HOSE’s liquidity, as well as bringing opportunities to domestic and foreign investors.
Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, HDBank’s deputy chairwoman, said at a stock launch ceremony last week that the bank has prepared all the requirements for the 2017-2021 development plan, which targets 25 per cent average annual growth, 37 per cent annual profit growth, and a goal of serving 15 million customers by 2021.
“In the past decade, HDBank’s total asset value jumped 18-fold and we believe we can more than double the bank’s assets by 2021,” Thao said.
Attending and witnessing the ceremony were Truong Vinh Trong, former Politburo member and former Deputy Prime Minister; Tran Vinh Tuyen, member of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Standing Committee and Deputy Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee; Nguyen Dong Tien, Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam; Tran Van Dung, chairman of the State Securities Commission; along with many international guests.
After the merger-and-acquisition deal with Dai A Joint Stock Commercial Bank in 2013 and the acquisition of French-backed financial firm Société Générale, HDBank has become one of Vietnam’s largest commercial lenders.
As of December 31, 2017, HDBank reported more than VND191 trillion ($8.6 billion) in total consolidated asset value, and more than VND15 trillion ($682 million) in equity capital.