Two banks to list on Ho Chi Minh City bourse, expand charter capital

Vietnam's private banks Vietbank and BVBank are finalizing the last steps to transfer their trading from the unlisted public company market UPCoM to the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), while simultaneously implementing plans to increase their charter capital.

The HoSE has announced the listing and the first trading date for the shares of Vietnam Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Vietbank).

Accordingly, over 1 billion VBB shares were listed on HoSE starting June 16 and will officially begin trading on July 14. The reference price for the first trading day is VND13,300 ($0.5) per share, with a fluctuation band of ±20%.

VBB shares ceased trading on UPCoM on June 29 at a price of VND13,700 apiece, marking a 45% increase since the beginning of the year.

In addition to the listing plan, Vietbank completed the allocation of 107.7 million shares - sourced from equity - to increase its charter capital on July 3, raising the total charter capital to nearly VND11.85 trillion ($450.4 million).

Under the plan, the bank will proceed to offer 296.14 million shares to existing shareholders at a price of VND10,000 ($0.38) per share, representing a 25% ratio.

In the subsequent phase, Vietbank will issue 74 million shares under its employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), also at VND10,000 per share.

Alongside Vietbank, Ban Viet Commercial Joint Stock Bank (BVBank) has also received approval from HoSE to list nearly 641 million shares. The move from UPCoM to HoSE is a plan that shareholders had approved at multiple annual general meetings but is only now being officially implemented.

BVB shares saw their final trading session on UPCoM on July 8, closing at VND13,300 per share - an increase of approximately 21% from the low recorded in March. BVBank has not yet announced the first trading date or the reference price for its listing on HoSE.

Alongside its listing plans, BVBank is implementing a strategy to increase its charter capital. Under the plan approved by shareholders, the bank intends to raise an additional VND3,504 billion, bringing its total charter capital to over VND9.9 trillion ($376.44 million) through two separate issuance rounds.

Specifically, BVBank plans to offer 320.4 million shares to existing shareholders at a 2:1 ratio, at a price of no less than VND10,000 per share. These newly issued shares will not be subject to transfer restrictions and are expected to boost the bank's charter capital by more than VND3.2 trillion ($121.83 million), supporting its lending operations.

Additionally, the bank intends to issue 30 million shares under an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) at VND10,000 per share, thereby increasing its charter capital by another VND300 billion ($11.4 million).

Participants in the program include employees of BVBank and its subsidiaries - based on a list approved by the board of directors - categorized into seven job groups.

Under the allocation rules, division heads (Group 1) are allocated 300,000 shares each. For the remaining groups, the share allocation is determined by a formula based on criteria such as position, seniority, 2025 performance evaluation results, succession planning status, and level of contribution.