Ho Chi Minh City Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank (HDBank) will debut on Viet Nam’s main stock exchange on January 5 after raising US$300 million in an initial public offering (IPO) two weeks ago.

The bank has been granted approval to list more than 980 million shares, under the stock code HDB, on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE) at a reference price of VND33,000 per share ($1.45).

Given a trading band of +/-20 per cent, the HDBank share price will move within a range of VND26,400 and VND39,600 on the first transaction day. The lender will be among the top 20 heavyweights on the southern bourse with market capitalisation of some VND32.4 trillion.

The southern stock watchdog approved HDBank’s listing on December 25, 2017. In Viet Nam, IPOs and listings are two separate processes.

HDBank is the second bank to float shares on the HOSE since early 2017 after VPBank and the eighth lender listed on the exchange so far.

Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, the billionaire founder and chairwoman of Viet Nam’s largest private airline Vietjet Aviation, is the vice chairwoman of HDBank.

The listing process of HDBank has been faster than expected. Two months ago, Thao announced the company would be listed on HOSE in early 2018 after successful stake sales to foreign investors.

More than 76 foreign investors paid a total of $300 million for shares of HDBank in the IPO on December 22, the bank said on its website.

Japan’s Credit Saison Co, Germany’s Deutsche Bank AG and JPMorgan Viet Nam Opportunities Fund, among others, bought shares in the IPO, the lender said, with each foreign investor getting to own a stake of less than 3 per cent.

From a medium-class lender, HDBank has made significant growth over the past two years and entered the ranks of the top eight banks in terms of total assets and profits.

Ending September 2017, it earned VND1.950 trillion in pre-tax profit, while its entire year's profit is projected at VND2.4 trillion. HDBank expects to reach an annual growth rate of 25 per cent within the next three years.

Earlier, HDBank marked its interest in acquiring DaiABank in 2013 and a French finance enterprise in 2014. It partnered with Japan’s Saison Group in the same year, forming the HD Saison joint venture, which holds the second largest market share in the local consumer finance market. — VNS