Photo: congluan

VPBank will offer 154.3 million new common shares this month to existing shareholders at an asking price of 14,000 VND per share, the bank has announced.

The offer, to be made at a ratio of 100:62.83, is expected to raise about 2.1 trillion VND (100 million USD), of which about 1.7 trillion VND (80.9 million USD) will be channelled into lending programmes and capital investments, the bank said.

Another 140.2 billion VND (6.7 million USD) would be spent upgrading technical systems and developing new services like internet and mobile banking and a Customers Relations Management and Contact Centre. The remaining 290.5 billion VND will be used to set up a data centre and developing branches at Can Tho, Hai Phong and Hue cities.

The bank's charter capital is also expected to be increased from 2.5 trillion VND (119 million USD) to 4 trillion VND (190.5 million USD) following this issue, bringing the bank into compliance with stricter minimum capital regulations.

The offering price, raised eyebrows among some market watchers and might sound improper at a time when other banks are finding it hard to raise capital at even the face value of their shares, said Nguyen Thanh Binh, head of the market analysis department for a Hanoi-based securities firm.

Source: VNA