VIETNAM

Investvine-Apr 14

Vietnam will see its biggest IPO thus far when Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank, or Techcombank, will list as planned on June 4. The bank started the book building phase on April 13 and will close up on April 23.

Vietnam’s largest privately-owned bank, is offering around 158 million shares in a price range of 120,000-128,000 Vietnamese dong per share ($5.27-$5.62), which means it aims at raising between $833 million to $888 million from the listing, more than the hitherto largest IPO of Vincom Retail, which raised about $700 million last year.

The bank has already attracted global funds as cornerstone investors, including Singapore wealth fund GIC, Fidelity Management and Research and Dragon Capital. The lender also got a boost last month when US private equity firm Warburg Pincus agreed to invest more than $370 million in the bank, the largest-ever private equity investment in Vietnam.

About 76 per cent of the IPO was being allocated to cornerstone investors, much higher than other IPOs.

Techcombank will be listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange. The IPO is expected to value the bank at about $6.1 billion to $6.5 billion, ranking it among the ten largest listed local companies. The bank, whose existing investors include local conglomerate Masan Group, which focuses on food, financial services and mining, and four wealthy business families, was established in 1993 and today has more than 5.4 million customers and 315 branches across Vietnam.