VietinBank extends $120 mln credit line to Long Son Petrochemicals

VietinBank, one of Vietnam’s “Big 4” banks, and Long Son Petrochemicals (LSP), invested by Thailand's The Siam Cement Group (SCG), signed a $120 million credit agreement on Monday.

Under the agreement, the funds will be sourced from the lender’s branch in the southern provinces of Ba Ria-Vung Tau and Dong Nai. The bank is committed to providing banking-financial services of the best quality at competitive prices as needed by LSP and other SCG businesses, said VietinBank chairman Tran Minh Binh.

VietinBank is set to become the only Vietnamese bank to provide comprehensive financial solutions to LSP, including credit, investment, payment, insurance and other services, Binh added.

He noted that VietinBank has participated in many projects of national importance including the Nghi Son and Dung Quat oil refineries in the central provinces of Thanh Hoa and Quang Ngai. The duo are the only operational oil refineries in the country.

The Siam Cement Group (SCG) started construction of the $5.4 billion Long Son Petrochemicals Complex in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province in the fourth quarter of 2018.

As a key project in Vietnam’s oil and chemical sectors, the petrochemicals complex has been placed on a list of projects to be supervised by the Vietnamese government’s Council for State Inspection of Construction Works.

The project is nearly complete and is slated for a full trial run in September. At full capacity, its annual output will include 1.4 million tons of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

In July, in a meeting with Nguyen Duc Hai, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly, the country’s highest legislative body, Long Son Petrochemicals urged authorities to open up the wholesale electricity market mechanism, explaining that electricity supplies from Ba Ria-Vung Tau province had experienced 12 disruptions recently, negatively impacting the complex’s operations. The wholesale electricity market mechanism would help ensure stable power supplies, the firm argued.

Vietinbank, with the Vietnamese state as majority shareholder, made after-tax profits of VND5.26 trillion ($222.3 million) in the second quarter of this year, up 12% year-on-year.

The bank's net interest income in the period was VND12.76 trillion ($538.9 million). With assets of VND1,860 trillion ($78.55 billion), it ranks second among the "Big 4" banks, the others being Vietcombank, BIDV and Agribank,