LienVietPostBank to change name, raise charter capital to $1.22 bln

Private Vietnamese lender LienVietPostBank plans to change its name to LPBank and increase its charter capital to VND28.68 trillion ($1.22 billion).

At its 2023 annual general meeting on Sunday, shareholders approved a target of VND6 trillion ($255.37 million) in pre-tax profit this year, a year-on-year rise of 5.4%.

The bank’s 2023 total assets are set to reach VND375 trillion ($15.96 billion), up 14.4% compared to the previous year. Of this, total credit will account for nearly VND273.5 trillion, with deposits at VND295.74 trillion, up 16% and 17.8%, respectively.

The lender plans to pay share dividends at a rate of 19% in 2022 and 12% in 2023. It is also looking to raise charter capital via issuing 328.5 million shares to pay dividends, offering 500 million shares to existing shareholders, organizing the private placement of 300 million shares for foreign investors, and issuing 10 million shares under the employee stock ownership plan.

Its charter capital is planned to rise nearly 66% from VND17,291 billion ($73.94 million) to VND28,676 billion ($1.22 billion) within 2023-2024.

The meeting also elected a seven-member board of directors, including an independent member, and a supervisory board for the new term 2023-2028.

The new board consists of chairman Nguyen Duc Thuy, Huynh Ngoc Huy, Le Hong Phong, Nguyen Van Thuy (the chairman's younger brother), Le Minh Tam, Ho Nam Tien, and Bui Thai Ha.

At the end of 2022, Nguyen Duc Thuy was elected board chairman to replace Huynh Ngoc Huy, who resigned for personal reasons. Meanwhile, Ho Nam Tien, standing deputy general director, has served as acting general director since March 17, 2023.

According to Tien, in 2022, the bank’s outstanding loans hit more than VND26 trillion ($1.1 billion), with nearly 54% in agriculture and 15% in real estate, all backed by collateral.

Amid the corporate bond crisis, the acting general director affirmed that LienVietPostBank had not invested or distributed corporate bonds so it would not be adversely affected.

Regarding Vietnam Post's (VNPost) unsuccessful divestment from LienVietPostBank, deputy general director Bui Thai Ha said that the price gap was the main reason as it offered a starting price of VND22,908 ($0.97) per share while the market price was around VND14,000 ($0.6).

On April 21, VNPost tried to auction more than 140.5 million LienVietPostBank shares, but was unsuccessful due to the high asking price.

At the beginning of 2022, VNPost also put on sale more than 122 million LPB shares with a starting price of VND28,930 ($1.16) per unit. The sale was also unsuccessful after the registration deadline (January 25 to February 16) to buy expired. Only seven Vietnamese individuals registered to buy a total of 800 LPB shares, equivalent to about VND23 billion ($926,000).

“LienVietPostBank and VNPost have signed a 50-year cooperation agreement so the latter’s divestment does not affect our collaboration,” Ha noted.

Mentioning the bank’s future strategic direction, chairman Nguyen Duc Thuy said that the lender will promote digital transformation and persist with its retail strategy, especially in rural areas.

The bank will restructure to optimize business development; increase the proportion of revenue from non-credit activities, and continue to improve risk management and bad debt settlements, he added.

In 2022, LienVietPostBank recorded a pre-tax profit of VND5.69 trillion ($240.35 million), up 56% year-on-year and hitting 118% of its target.

As of January 31, 2022, the bank's total assets had increased by 13.3% compared to the beginning of the year to more than VND327.7 trillion ($13.84 billion). Of this, customer loans increased by 12.1% to VND230.64 trillion ($9.74 billion), while loan risk provision increased by 53.6%.

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), LienVietPostBank (LPB) shares closed at VND13,650 ($0.58) on Friday.