Saigon-Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB) last week announced it had received approval from the State Securities Commission of Viet Nam (SSC) to temporarily lock the foreign ownership ratio at 10 per cent to implement the plan of offering and issuing stocks that was approved at the 2021 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders.

SSC requires that the period for the temporary lock is not over six months. At the end of the period or if the bank completes the issuance or offering to foreign investors before the limited time, SHB has to coordinate with the Viet Nam Securities Depository (VSD) to propose adjusting the ratio to the maximum level in accordance with regulations.

At the 2021 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, SHB approved increasing capital from the issuance of additional shares for foreign investors and foreign strategic investors. The number of offered shares shall not exceed 20 per cent of the bank’s issued shares at the time of completing investor selection.

SHB leaders said that there are a number of financial groups, banks and investment funds in the world looking to become investors. Its shareholders also approved a plan to increase capital by VND5 trillion (US$219.3 million) from the share issuance for foreign investors and foreign strategic investors.

In the first six months of the year, SHB's consolidated profit before tax reached nearly VND3.1 trillion, up 86.5 per cent over the same period last year, leading to an increase of 24.3 per cent in its return on equity (ROE). — VNS