BNP Paribas to buy 5 pct more in Vietnam's Oricombank

HANOI, April 23 (Reuters) - Vietnam's Oricombank, 10 percent owned by France's BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), said on Wednesday it would issue 20 million new shares this year to allow its French partner to increase its ownership to 15 percent.

The Ho Chi Minh City-based bank, also known as Phuong Dong Commercial Bank, will also sell part of the new shares to other foreign investors, it said in a statement after shareholders approved business targets for 2008 on Tuesday.

Oricombank gave no dates for the share issue. BNP Paribas has said it wants to double its stake in Oricombank to 20 percent.

Vietnam caps foreign ownership in a domestic bank at 30 percent, with a 15-percent limit for an individual strategic investor. Any individual strategic investor needs government approval to increase its stake to 20 percent.

At a meeting on Tuesday, shareholders also agreed to slow profit growth and lending after Vietnam's central bank imposed a cap on credit growth for the sector this year in an effort to control inflation.

Oricombank's statement said the bank's gross profit would grow only 36 percent this year to 315 billion dong ($19.7 million) and loans were projected to rise 32 percent.

Last year Oricombank reported its audited gross profit jumped 63.3 percent to 231 billion dong as lending surged 62 percent to 7.56 trillion dong.

The bank's new growth target compared with growth of 72 percent projected in February, and is more in line with the State Bank of Vietnam's tighter money supply policy as it seeks to control inflation at a 12-year high.

Vietcombank, the country's third-largest bank by assets and the first among its 5 state-run banks to conduct an initial public offering last December, owns 8.7 percent in Oricombank.