Vietnam industrial major Gelex okayed to buy Eximbank shares

Vietnamese industrial major Gelex Group has acquired State Bank of Vietnam approval to buy shares in private lender Eximbank through order matching and/or throughput on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE) in 2024.

Previously, on July 1, 2024, Eximbank announced the list of shareholders owning more than 1% of its charter capital, which showed that Gelex, listed on the HoSE as GEX, owned a 4.9% stake.

Gelex is known as a successful corporation in fields like electrical equipment manufacturing, infrastructure, and industrial park development. Entering the banking sector, it aims to become the largest shareholder of Eximbank with a 10% stake. This is the maximum ratio that an institutional shareholder can hold at a credit institution according to the Law on Credit Institutions 2024.

In the first six months of 2024, the company recorded consolidated net revenue of VND14.91 trillion ($591.26 million), an increase of 3.5% over the same period last year. Its consolidated pre-tax profit reached VND1.77 trillion ($70.2 million), up 74.6%.

Its profit increased sharply thanks to the completion of transfers of some renewable energy projects to Singaporean partner Sembcorp.

In 2024, Gelex targets consolidated net revenue of VND32.3 trillion ($1.28 million) and consolidated pre-tax profit of VND1.92 trillion ($76.14 million), up 7.7% and 37.5% respectively from 2023.

After H1, the firm fulfilled 46.2% and 92.1% of the year's respective revenue and profit targets for the whole year.

In the stock market, GEX closed Friday at VND21,500 ($0.85) per share.