Vietcombank will sell all of its remaining 1.48 million Orient Commercial Bank (OCB) shares at an auction on September 6.

According to Vietcombank, at a starting price of VND18,876 (80 US cents) per share, the bank is estimated to earn nearly VND27.9 billion (US$1.19 million) if the auction succeeds.

The shares are bonus shares that Vietcombank received from OCB before its first auction to sell 13.2 million OCB shares held in December last year.

Earlier, in April, Vietcombank also succeeded in its second auction to sell 6.67 million OCB shares to 128 investors, including one institution. At this auction, the highest winning price was VND28,500 per share and the lowest was VND25,000, compared with the starting price of VND13,000 set by Vietcombank, helping the bank earn VND171.96 billion.

Offloading holdings at OCB is one of Vietcombank’s moves to comply with the central bank’s Circular 36, which allows commercial banks to hold shares in a maximum of two other credit institutions, with the stake in each not exceeding 5 per cent of the total equity of that institution.

Apart from OCB, Vietcombank also plans to divest from Eximbank and Military Bank as it currently still holds shares in these banks.

OCB reported impressive business performance in the first half of this year with pre-tax profit of more than VND1.3 trillion, rising 163.5 per cent year-on-year and meeting 65 per cent of the bank’s target set for 2018.

OCB plans to list 750 million shares on the HCM Stock Exchange during the late third quarter or early fourth quarter to increase in the bank’s market capitalisation to $1 billion. — VNS