Vietcombank sell-down sends national airline crashing

Over the time period of January 25-February 8, the commercial bank was reported to conduct the stock transaction which subsequently downsized the bank’s proportion of shareholding at the national airline from the initial volume of 22.4 million shares to 14.8 million shares, commensurate with a reduction in the bank’s shareholding from 1.83 per cent to 1.21 per cent.

As opined by the stock market’s analysts along the whole duration of the share deal, the commercial bank’s decision to divest such a hefty amount of stock at Vietnam Airlines was pondered as a “smart move” as the airline’s stock was regarded as an overweight on the domestic bourse with an unprecedented surging price of the ticker at VND70,000 ($3.07) per share.

Briefly after the sale, the airline’s stock price plunged below VND50,000 ($2.2), a drop of roughly 30 per cent. The bottom of the dive was VND44,200 ($1.94) on February 10-12.

After the abrupt divestment, Vietcombank’s stock price recovered mildly as it climbed back to VND52,800 ($2.31).

Previously, Vietcombank bought the national airline’s shares at its initial public offering at VND22,300 ($0.97). Consequently, the bank gained a total profit of VND210 billion ($9.21 million) from the divestiture.

Earlier, in late October 2017, Vietcombank was green-lighted to divest 19.8 million shares from Saigon Bank for Industry and Trade, Saigonbank, and Cement Finance Company (CFC).

Later on, on November 20, 2017, the commercial bank withdrew 13.2 million shares (4.3 per cent) from Saigonbank at the base price of VND12,550 ($0.55) and 6.67 million shares (10.9 per cent stake) from CFC at VND11,549 ($0.51).

From the latest two divestments from Saigonbank and CFC, Vietcombank secured a total of $15 million in proceeds, entering the top 48 most profitable banks in Asia.