Foreign ownership in Techcombank officially at 0%
Foreign ownership in Techcombank officially at 0%
Foreign ownership in the Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank) is officially at zero per cent, the bank announced late last week.
Previously, in its announcement to shareholders on August 30, the bank requested shareholders to approve the zero foreign ownership temporarily, following HSBC Bank’s divestment in July. It also expressed its intention to raise the level of foreign ownership later, but not higher than 30 per cent of its charter capital.
Following HSBC’s departure, Techcombank intends to actively seek a capable strategic investor in the near future.
Back in mid August, HSBC sold all 172 million shares to Techcombank, to be used as treasury stocks at VND23,445 (US$1.04) per share, according to the bank’s board of directors.
The shares previously amounted to 19.4 per cent of Techcombank’s charter capital, and are currently priced at a total of some VND4 trillion ($178.1 million).
Besides Techcombank, other banks such as VPBank and LienVietPostBank have also recently reduced the foreign ownership ratio. VPBank has lowered the rate to 22.378 per cent from the earlier 25 per cent, while the rate at LienVietPostBank is at just 5 per cent.
According to LienVietPostBank, the move is aimed setting aside the ownership of strategic foreign partners and restricting purchase by individual foreign investors.
