Saigon-Hanoi Bank seeks foreign strategic shareholder

Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SHB), one of the top private banks in Vietnam, plans to find a foreign strategic shareholder in late 2023 or early next year, said chairman Do Quang Hien.

Speaking at the bank's annual general meeting of shareholders in Hanoi on Tuesday, Hien said that in the past, SHB was described as a "beautiful girl" who attracted a lot of "foreign boys". At that time, the bank’s board of directors wanted to find a strategic investor with both capital and technology strengths to help the lender improve its long-term management and governance capacity.

“However, over a period of time, SHB found that most of these "boys" only wanted to set up a short- or medium-term relationship. Therefore, she decided to change her strategy and is now under negotiations to choose a "groom" who can accompany her in the next 3-5 years," he said.

At the meeting, SHB shareholders approved the bank’s business plan for 2023 with two scenarios.

In the first case, with a credit growth limit of 10%, SHB has set a target of increasing pre-tax profit by 6.15% year-on-year to VND10.29 trillion ($438.6 million) and total assets by 8.93% to VND600.11 trillion ($25.59 billion). The bank expects to mobilize VND456.18 trillion ($19.45 billion), up 12.05% from last year.

In the second scenario, which features a credit growth limit of 14%, the bank aims to raise pre-tax profit by 9.67% to VN10.63 trillion, and total assets by 10.09% to VND606.5 trillion. Its capital mobilization is projected to grow 14.78% to VND467.29 trillion.

The meeting also adopted a plan to issue shares to increase the bank’s charter capital by 19.47% to VND36.65 trillion ($1.56 billion) and pay the 2023 dividend in shares at a rate of 15%.

In addition, the bank will also issue 45.12 million shares under the employee stock option program (ESOP) at a price of VND10,000 ($0.43) per share. The share issuances are expected to be made this year.

Shareholders gave the nod to the continued implementation of a resolution adopted at the 2022 meeting on a plan to increase capital by issuing shares for foreign investors and foreign strategic investors. They also agreed to transform the operational models at SHB Laos and SHB Cambodia.

The meeting also approved the election of four new board members for the 2022-2027 term. They include SHB general director Ngo Thu Ha; Do Duc Hai, director of SHB Van Phuc Branch; Pham Viet Dan, board member of SHB Financial Company, and Haroon Anwar Sheikh, an independent board member of SHB.

In 2022, SHB's pre-tax profit reached more than VND9.66 trillion ($407.08 million), up 54% year-on-year. SHB's total income from business activities in the year reached more than VND19.35 trillion ($815.6 million).

As of December 31, 2022, SHB's total assets stood at VND551 trillion ($23.22 billion). Basel II equity was VND62.58 trillion ($2.64 billion), while total deposits hit more than VND407 trillion ($17.16 billion) and outstanding loans to customers exceeded VND385 trillion ($16.23 billion).

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), the SHB share price hit VND11,750 ($0.5) on Tuesday.