Private lender SeABank to acquire $30 mln loan from Norway’s Norfund

Vietnamese private lender SeABank has approved to acquire a covertible loan worth $30 million from Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (Norfund).

In a statement issued last Friday, SeABank, listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) as SSB, said the chairperson of its board of directors would negotiate details and sign documents for the loan soon.

He will also carry out procedures for the loan with the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and register a charter capital hike.

According to a plan adopted at the 2024 AGM, SeABank will continue to expand its charter capital to VND30 trillion ($1.18 billion) this year by issuing shares to pay dividends and increase owner equity with a total ratio of nearly 14%. It will issue shares under the Employment Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) and via private placements, or for debt swap.

Besides, per the lender’s 2024 AGM documents, it will raise its foreign ownership limit from 5% to 9.17%.

SSB shares climbed 1.82% to VND22,400 ($0.88) each at the close on Monday.

In July 2023, SeABank stated that it planned to sell 94.6 million shares, equivalent to 4.63% of SeABank’s total floating shares, to the Norwegian fund, for VND1,216.7 billion ($50.5 million).

The expected offering price would not be lower than the book value of VND12,861 ($0.54) per share and not exceed 120% of the average price of SSB shares over the last 30 sessions, at VND37,032 ($1.56) per share, the bank said.

In November 2023, the lender updated that it would not proceed with the planned sale of shares to Norfund, without giving further details.