BIDV announces new timeline for HoSE listing

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On December 31 the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE) announced it had approved the listing documents for the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV). The bank will still need to finalise the documents to be officially listed on the exchange.

A BIDV representative said the bank was now finishing the documents and that details will be officially announced at an appropriate time.

The announcement comes as one in a series of delays in the listing of BIDV. Observers expected the lender would be approved for listing in November 2013, after filing its documents in October and that it would list within 90 days of this approval.

According to HoSE regulations, once a company’s documents are officially approved it must list within 90 days.

As such, if BIDV completes its final documents within January, as expected, it must list by April at the latest.

The bank completed a set of the documents over a year ago in September 2012, but was asked to supplement additional information before receiving approval to list and in January 2013, the bank announced it would delay its issue due to unfavourable market conditions.

BIDV’s listing has been long awaited by the HoSE because of the large volume of shares to hit the market. It is expected to become a pillar of the VN-Index, together with GAS (PVGas), VCB (Vietcombank), MSN (Masan) and VIC (Vincom).

The bank held an IPO in late-December 2011 at a price of VND18,600 ($0.88) with the planned debut price to not be lower than 1.5 times that of the IPO price – VND27,800 ($1.32).

However, a report in mid-November 2013 by Ho Chi Minh Securities Company (HSC) argued that BIDV’s IPO-based listing price would be a hard sell to investors.

HSC’s estimation was based on BIDV’s business performance from the third quarter 2013 where its Price to Book (P/B) ratio was 1.54 with an expected drop in 2014 to 1.42, much higher than the average P/B of listed banks, at 1.2.

Currently, BIDV shares on the over the counter market are going for around VND13,000-16,000 ($0.62-$0.76). Vietinbank and Vietcombank stand at similar levels with January 3’s share prices at VND16,300 ($0.77) and VND 27,200 ($1.29), respectively.