Under the contract, Credit Suisse will become the sole financial consultant for VCB during its equitisation process, which is scheduled to kick-start with the making of its initial public offering (IPO) in the domestic market in July this year.

After the domestic IPO, VCB and its consultant plan to select strategic investors in October 2007 and make an international IPO in 2008.

According to VCB Director General Vu Viet Ngoan, the State will hold the controlling 70 percent share of VCB' stake after equitisation.

The remaining 30 percent of the bank's shares will be sold to the public (each issuance not exceeding 10 percent), 10 percent of which will be reserved for foreign investors.

About six to eight weeks following the first IPO, VCB will officially list its securities at the Ho Chi Minh Securities Trading Centre, Mr Ngoan said.

Credit Suisse will also provide VCB with bond-converting solutions for raising capital, and with skills to manage bad debts, risks and assets, in addition to other value added services.

At the signing ceremony, VCB announced that it was rated BB/B by Standard & Poor's (S&P) Ratings Service. The credit rating was equivalent to the national credit rating that S&P has given to Vietnam and it was the highest ever rating offered by S&P to a Vietnamese financial institution.