Vietnam's ACB raises $112 mln in share issue
HANOI, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Asia Commercial Bank ACB.HN, Vietnam's fifth-largest lender, said it had raised $112 million by issuing nearly 10 million new shares and boosted its registered capital by 4 percent.
The bank also said in a statement it expected a gross profit of 2 trillion dong this year, nearly triple last year, and its assets to jump 83.65 percent to 82 trillion dong.
The Ho Chi Minh City-based bank sold 2,998,603 shares, or 30 percent of the new issue, to three existing foreign shareholders at 200,000 dong per share, the statement issued at the weekend said without naming the buyers.
UK-based Standard Chartered Plc (STAN.L) owns 8.56 percent of ACB and is the largest of four foreign shareholders in the bank, which together hold a combined 30 percent, the foreign ownership ceiling Hanoi imposes on domestic banks.
Other foreign investors are Dragon Capital, Jardine Matheson Group and the World Bank's International Finance Corp.
Last month, ACB Deputy Chairman Nguyen Duc Kien said StanChart, Dragon Capital and Jardine Matheson Group had sought to buy new shares but gave no details.
ACB also sold 6,996,741 shares to seven Vietnamese financial institutions and major companies in the same issue at an average 172,142 dong each, the statement said without giving details.
Shares in ACB had fallen 0.24 percent to 164,200 dong ($10.2) on the Hanoi exchange .HASTCI at 0305 GMT on Monday, valuing the lender at $2.68 billion. ($1=16,113 dong) (Reporting by Ho Binh Minh, editing by Michael Battye)
