Vietnam’s Eximbank Cancels 2009 Listing on Financial Turmoil

By Van Nguyen

Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Vietnam Export-Import Commercial Joint-Stock Bank, partly owned by Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., has canceled its plan to list shares next year due to the global financial crisis, said Le Thi Hoa.

“It is not a good time to list next year given both the domestic and world financial situation,” Hoa, management board vice chairwoman of the lender known as Eximbank, said in an interview today in Ho Chi Minh City. “We will consider better timing and seek approval from our shareholders later.”

The Southeast Asian country’s benchmark VN Index has plunged 67 percent this year as foreign investors retreat from emerging markets amid a global recession. Vietnam on Nov. 6 lowered its growth target for next year to 6.5 percent from a previous forecast of 7 percent.

The Ho Chi Minh City-based lender also reduced its registered capital target this year to 7.2 trillion dong ($424 million), from 7.38 trillion dong planned in March, according to Truong Van Phuoc, Eximbank general director.

The bank will sell 297 million shares worth 2.97 trillion dong next month to existing shareholders, Phuoc said.

As of the end of October, Eximbank’s total asset value was 49.6 trillion dong and its registered capital was 4.2 trillion dong, a surge from 2.8 trillion dong at the beginning of the year, according to a report released at a shareholders’ meeting today in Vietnam’s biggest city.

Pretax profit was 1.2 trillion dong in the first 10 months, an increase of 116 percent from a year earlier, the report said.

Eximbank’s property loans are 4 trillion dong, or 18.2 percent of its outstanding debt at the end of November, according to Phuoc.

Eximbank has sold stakes of 15 percent to Sumitomo Mitsui, Japan’s third-largest bank by revenue, 5 percent to VOF Investment Ltd. of Virgin Islands, 4.5 percent to Mirae Asset Exim Investment Ltd. of South Korea, and 0.5 percent to Mirae Asset Maps Opportunity Vietnam Equity Balanced Fund 1, according to the report.

To contact the reporters on this story: Van Nguyen in Ho Chi Minh City at vnguyen23@bloomberg.net