Finance Vietnam News
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
finance & business news 2 March 2017 FINANCE . 1 European F&B enterprises sound out opportunities in Vietnam 26 Under pressure to increase capital, banks hunger for foreign funds 1 HCM City aims for high-quality low-cost housing 27 Many organisations race to divest from small banks 3 BIZ NEWS . 28 Reference exchange rate goes up 9 VND 3 Business Briefs March 01, 2017 28 G-bonds set record in 2016 4 Raising capital expected to become a hot topic in 2017 AGM Assets of credit institutions rise 16pct in 2016 4 season 28 Maritime event to take place this month 5 Dividend payment schedule of listed businesses during Bao Viet signs cooperation agreement with SeABank 5 March 1-10 29 Financial leasing companies hard-pressed for foreign capital 6 Strong selling hits large caps and blue chips 30 Vietnam's PMI reaches 54.2 points in March 2017 7 Mobile World Congress debuts cool stuff 30 Official: Vietnam's initiatives help Apec keep right track 8 Shares fall on investor caution 30 Official: Vietnam makes practical contributions to Apec issues 8 Nearly 400 million new shares listed 31 All preparations done for first Apec Senior Officials Meeting 10 E-commerce businesses struggle for profits 31 February trade deficit put at $1.2 billion 10 March gas price down 33 Industrial production index sees low increase 11 Vinalines signs $565 million insurance contract 33 PM repeats request for strong actions to reach 6.7pct Vietnam's PV Oil to sell 49 pct stake, plans IPO for June 33 growth rate 11 More than 14,000 enterprises established in two months 34 Vietnam to suspend imports of five agricultural commodities from Vietlott reports huge revenue 34 India 12 Vinalines tipped to become leading maritime firm 35 Retail sales, service revenue increase over 7 per cent 12 Construction of steel plant begins at Yen Bai 35 Seafood export value estimated at 844 million USD early 2017 13 Japanese-funded plant inaugurated in Ha Nam 36 February price index in HCM City up 0.5pct 13 Dak Lak avocado targets world market 36 CPI up 0.23pct in February 13 Canada promotes beef in Vietnam 36 VCCI points out best and worst regulations 14 Danang accommodation market achieves explosive growth 37 Nationwide economic survey starts from March 1 15 Local firms optimistic on 2016's business results 37 Vietnam-India economic cooperation grows strongly 15 Ton Poh Fund invests $11mn in Vietnam's leading mobile retailer 38 Deputy PM wants more international integration 16 Hi-tech medicinal herb processing complex to be built in Gia Lai 39 Real estate sees strong interest from foreign, local investors 17 Opportunity arises for orange exports to Indonesia 39 Vietnam's super-rich population is growing faster than Panasonic Vietnam doubles production capacity 39 anywhere else 18 After Netflix, another foreign video streaming provider Automakers struggle to keep Vietnam production amid Asean connects in Vietnam 40 tariff cuts 18 Foreign investors keen on retail sector 40 Wood product exporters ready to expand global market share 19 Online movie service of iflix enters Vietnam 41 Pharmaceutical M&A on the horizon 20 Vietnam Railways Corporation has new chair 41 Vietnam's small businesses outperform regional counterparts 21 Quang Ninh becomes new centre of resort real estate market 41 The steps toward 2025's logistics transformation 22 Hotel oversupply perils overblown 23 FINANCE FINANCE Under pressure to 02/MAR/2017 INTELLASIA | NHIP CAU DAU TU increase capital, banks The Head of Vietnamese government, in an announcement earlier this year, said that the hunger for foreign government will strive to increase banking ownership cap for foreign investors in 2017 funds from the current limit of 30 percent. This information has once again made waves in the banking market. Banks are perhaps most looking forward to this move, especially when the deadline for applying Basel II at 10 pilot banks is approaching (September 1st 2017). Banks expect that foreign capital will be poured stronger, thanks to the loosening owner- ship limit, thereby helping them eliminate the pressure to increase charter capital under the Basel II regulations. Intellasia Tel: +844 2213 2244 No. 21, lane 173/63/17, Ngoc Ha Ward, Ba Dinh Dist, Hanoi Fax: +844 3759 2034 © All Rights Reserved Email: [email protected] Websites: www.Intellasia.Net www.TriTueAChau.com Vietnam finance & business 2 March 2017 The Commercial Joint Stock Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank, code: VCB) received good news as the bank's after-tax profit growth in 2016 was finalised at 24 percent. However, Vietcombank has sadly not yet been able to complete the capital raising deal worth 400 million US dollars with the Singaporean investor - GIC. This deal is expected to be the first model in the sector to solve the problem of calling for foreign capital as required by the Basel II. Earlier, in August 2016, Vietcombank announced the agreement to sell more than 308 million VCB shares to GIC, equivalent to 7.7 percent ownership rate when the bank starts to increase its capital. Nevertheless, in the beginning of 2017, the government has announced that this deal will be postponed as the offered price is not yet a good one. At that time, the stock price of Vietcombank was 55,000 dong per share, and it is now 35,000 dong per share. This price reduction occurred because Vietcombank distributed dividends and bonus shares at 35 percent ratio. There were rumours that the deal can hardly be completed because the overly high price will cause concerns to the partner. Meanwhile, Chair of Vietcombank Nghiem Xuan Thanh shared that Vietcombank FINANCE strongly hopes for the decline of VCB share price in order to sell out its stake. At the conference on implementing business tasks held in early February 2017, Thanh said that foreign investors are still queuing due to the failure of the price negotiation, and Vietcombank is waiting for solution from the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV). Banks of Vietnam remain very attractive in the eyes of foreign investors. Most recently, according to Chair of Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank), a foreign investor is willing to spend one billion US dollars to buy Sacombank's shares, after the bank was named in the list of bank to focus on restructuring in early 2017. It is not difficult to explain the interest of foreign investors in Sacombank, because the bank owns an extensive network and strong brand in the private banking group. How- ever, if the one billion US dollar number is real, it is really impressive because that is 20 percent larger than Sacombank's current capital size. More than anyone else, banks themselves are eagerly expecting the expansion of for- eign ownership in order to strengthen their resources. Among these banks, the Com- mercial Joint Stock Bank for Industry and Trade of Vietnam (VietinBank) perhaps might feel impatient because its foreign ownership rate has already reached the ceiling limit. In contrast, the Commercial Joint Stock Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) is yet to have a foreign partner, and the ownership rate of foreign investors at Vietcombank is only 15 percent. However, the level of expansion is the issue that needs careful consideration. In the shareholders meeting season last year, banks recommended to increase foreign own- ership room to about 35-40 percent, including VietinBank, BIDV and Vietcombank. It might be more flexible for private banks, and ownership rate can reach up to 100 per- cent depending on the case. It is noteworthy that under the Law on Enterprises, share- holders owning more than 35 percent of shares are eligible to veto policies in an enterprise. If a foreign investor holds dominant shareholding in a bank, there will probably be conflict in benefits as large banks sometimes also perform market regula- tion function as directed by the management authority. In fact, raising ceiling ownership limit does not ensure the ability that banks can suc- cessfully find share buyers. In 2014, Global Petro Bank (GPBank) failed to complete the acquisition deal proposed by United Overseas Bank (UOB). This also implies that SBV, despite having strong expectation, will not sell banks at low prices. Other opinions mentioned that the management authorities are waiting for banks to be healthier - which means that their assets will be recovered to a certain level -- in order to sell for good prices, thereby gathering more revenue for the State budget. In 2016, banks themselves had conflict related to the State budget issue as VietinBank and BIDV proposed to retain dividends to increase charter capital instead of paying divi- dends in cash. Currently, SBV seems to be moderate with buying offers. Although the deadline to in- crease capital is close, it is worth to remember that the management authority has sev- eral times postponed the deadlines for policy application. Intellasia 2 March 2017 2 / 41 Vietnam finance & business 2 March 2017 Many organisations 02/MAR/2017 INTELLASIA | NDH race to divest from In 2015, it was not easy for organisations holding shares of such small banks as AB- small banks Bank, OCB, Maritime Bank, Saigon Bank, etc. to divest capital and they broke their promises to shareholders about the divestment progress. However, the vibrancy and warming of the stock market in 2016 helped these businesses escape from the struggle to divest from small banks. In Q3 and Q4/2016, about 31.26 million SaigonBank shares of Saigontourist and Viet- inbank, Tan Thuan Industrial Development Co., Ltd were successfully auctioned. Of which, the average successful bid price for 10,754,228 shares of SaigonBank owned by Saigontourist reached 14,797 dong/share compared to 12,500 dong per share for 16.875 million shares owned by VietinBank and 10,000 dong per shares for 3,261,941 IPC shares.