ACB pulls back from holdings

December 04, 2012 | 10:32

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Under fire Asia Commercial Bank is to make a bold withdrawal of its holdings in other banks to narrow the focus of its business.

Tran Hung Huy, the new chairman of ACB, said these withdrawals were a change in the Ho Chi Minh City-based bank’s strategy, regardless of whether the investments were making profits.

The group of companies in the ACB family have divested most of their investments in Kien Long Bank and Eximbank, collecting VND4.5 trillion ($216.35 million), according to Huy.

At its extraordinary shareholders meeting set for December 26 in Ho Chi Minh City, ACB would present a plan to pay this year’s dividends with 10 per cent in cash that would come from its reserve funds, he said.

ACB’s third quarter financial report showed available funds of almost VND2.4 trillion ($115.4 million).
ACB and ACB Securities Company have invested in Eximbank, Vietcombank, Techcombank, Viet A, Vietbank, Oriental Commercial Bank, Dai A, Kien Long, and Maritime Bank.

Meanwhile, ACB’s foreign investors are Standard Chartered, which holds 15 per cent, Connaught Investors with 7.3 per cent and Dragon Financial with 6.8 per cent.

ACB Securities recently reported that it sold 9.76 million shares in Eximbank for some VND150 billion ($7.21 million plus), cutting its holdings down to 48.55 million shares. The firm also sold 18.4 million shares in Kien Long Bank, but did not mention the proceeds. However, the investment was valued at VND200 billion ($9.62 million) at the end of 2011 in the firm’s book.