The State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) will put up more than 2.4 million shares of Maritime Bank for a public auction on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange on March 28.

The initial price of each share will be VND12,400 (US$0.54).

Interested investors must register to buy the whole lot.

This is the second attempt by SCIC to offload Maritime Bank’s shares since its failure in November 2015.

Experts, however, have predicted that this auction too would fail due to overpricing since Maritime Bank’s shares are being traded at some VND7,000-VND8,000 per share on the Over-The-Counter (OTC) market.

In addition to this, the share offering accounts for only 0.3 per cent of the bank’s charter capital, which is quite less to participate in the bank’s management.

Earlier, Viet Nam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) had announced the third auction of more than 71 million shares of Maritime Bank, equivalent to 6.09 per cent of its capital, at a minimum price of VND11,900 per share.

Its two previous auctions, in March 2017 and January 2018, failed to draw investors.

Maritime Bank, founded in 1991 in the northern port city of Hai Phong, had an initial charter capital of VND40 billion. It was relocated to Ha Noi in 2005 and acquired Mekong Development Commercial Joint Stock Bank in 2015, lifting its charter capital to VND11.75 trillion, with total assets of some VND104 trillion.

The lender is one of the most aggressive commercial banks to sell bad debts to Viet Nam Asset Management Company, with a total value of almost VND10 trillion by the end of 2015.

Prices of Maritime Bank’s shares on the OTC market has doubled in the past one year, from VND4,000 per share to VND8,000, owing to active divestment plans by stakeholders. — VNS