Vietnam Southern Bank plans 19 pct capital boost

HANOI, July 18 (Reuters) - Vietnam's Southern Commercial Bank, 10 percent owned by Singapore's United Overseas Bank (UOBH.SI), said it plans to issue shares to raise its registered capital by 19.3 percent to 1.71 trillion dong ($104 million).

The bank said in a statement seen on Friday it would issue 16.73 million new shares with a face value of 10,000 dong each by Aug.14 to increase its capital base.

Ho Chi Minh City-based Southern Bank, one among Vietnam's 37 partly private lenders, has not released any financial results for the first half of 2008. Its net profit last year rose 32 percent to 190.37 billion dong.

Nine of these partially private Vietnamese banks, including Southern Bank, have sold shares to foreign banks as they seek expertise and greater business opportunities in the country's fast-developing economy.

Southern Bank has said UOB, Singapore's second largest lender, has sought permission to double its stake in Southern Bank to 20 percent, the ceiling allowed by the Vietnamese government for a foreign bank's investment in a domestic bank.

State-run media reported in January that Mirae Asset Securities (037620.KS) signed a memorandum of understanding with Southern Bank under which the brokerage arm of South Korea's top mutual fund firm would buy a 15 percent stake in Southern Bank.

No further details of the deal have been made available since. ($1=16,501 dong) (Reporting by Nguyen Nhat Lam; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)