VietNamNet Bridge – A lot of banks have bogged down in bad debts and poor liquidity. However, they are believed to have great potentials in the long run. Therefore, they still can attract big investors.

Big guys pack up and go

The Hanoi Stock Exchange HNX has released a notice that the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) on August 9, 2013, will put 25.2 million ABBank shares into auctions at the starting price of VND10,000 per share.

It is expected that only Vietnamese institutional and individual investors would attend the auction, because foreign investors now hold 30 percent of the bank’s stakes (Maybank 20 percent and IFC 10 percent) and they cannot buy more.

The national air flag carrier Vietnam Airlines has announced it would transfer all the 24 million of Techcombank shares it holds now, or 2.7 percent of capital, by putting the shares into auction.

Vietnam Airlines was one of the founding shareholders of Techcombank, then holding 20 percent of the bank’s stakes. Later, its ownership ratio has decreased to 2.7 percent since 2011.

The other two big guys, the Vietnam Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) and the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) have also announced they would speed up the process of investment restructuring.

More bank stake transfer deals have been reported over the last two years. Dang Thang Tam, one of the richest stock millionaires in Vietnam and relevant shareholders has withdrawn their capital from Navibank and Western Bank.

At the same time, ACB and Tin Nghia Bank have been withdrawing capital from Dai A Bank. Becamex has left Southernbank after selling all the stakes it held, while Savico quitted Phuong Dong Bank.

Local newspapers have reported that five institutional and one individual investor sold out all of their Sacombank’s stakes, while ACBS has withdrawn all of its capital invested before in six commercial banks.

Who will be the new owners of the banks?

It’s still unclear who will replace EVN to become the big shareholder of ABBank. Analysts say since EVN sells the stakes in big lots at the starting price of VND10,000, which is higher than the ABBank share price on the OTC market, the buyer must be a very big domestic investor.

Earlier, the shareholders’ meeting of Trust Bank approved the restructuring plan under which 252 million stakes, or 84 percent of capital of the banks would be sold. The information raised curiosity among investors, who cannot imagine who would be financially capable enough to buy such a big volume of shares.

The debut of the Build Bank which replaced Trust Bank, the appearance of its CEO Phan Thanh Mai and its big shareholder – Thien Thanh Group, a big guy in the civil engineering sector – have given the answer to the question about the influence behind the bank.

Sacombank has been taken over by Tram Be, a “quiet Vietnamese businessman,” Eximbank and some other investors, when Dang Van Thanh, the founder of Sacombank and some institutions from Sacombank have retreated.

Viet A Bank, Tien Phong Bank, Techcombank, Maritime Bank and GP Bank have also restructured after a lot of noisy stake transfer deals.

As for Techcombank, after many big changes, the bank has been put under the hands of Ho Hung Anh and the control of Masan Group.

Manh Ha