Vietnam - Eximbank took first step to swallow Sacombank

Eximbank’s President has proposed to re-elect the board of directors and the supervision board of Sacombank.

 The move has confirmed the rumor which has been spreading for the last few months about a plan of Eximbank to swallow Sacombank, even though the insiders denied this.

Le Hung Dung, President of Eximbank, has sent a document to President and Head of the Supervision Board of Sacombank, mentioning some issues to be discussed at Sacombank’s upcoming annual shareholders’ meeting.

Dung has proposed to re-elect the whole board of directors and the supervision board because there have been big changes in the shareholder structure of Sacombank. Some big shareholders have withdrawn capital from Sacombank, such as Dragon Capital, ANZ bank, REE, while new shareholders have appeared, including Eximbank.

The representative from Eximbank has also nominated its representatives for the posts of the members of the board of directors and supervision board in accordance with the capital contribution proportions stipulated in the Enterprise Law. Eximbank has also asked Sacombank to adjust the 2012 business plan targets to be submitted at the shareholders’ meeting, saying that Sacombank should strive to obtain VND4.025 trillion (USD192.95 million) profit at least, or 15 percent higher than the initially planned figure of VND3.5 trillion (USD167.78 million).

During the period of preparing for the shareholders’ meeting, Sacombank will not be able to transfer the bank’s big assets, including the treasury stocks being held by Sacombank.

In the document to Sacombank, Dung said that he represents a big shareholder of Sacombank, who is holding 9.73 percent of Sacombank’s chartered capital. Besides, Eximbank has also got the authorization in writing document by a group of shareholders representing the majority (over 51% of the total shares with voting rights) of Sacombank.

In the talk with local press, President of Eximbank has affirmed that he has sufficient conditions to summon an extraordinary meeting to re-elect the board of directors of Sacombank. The president said he does not intend to make threats against Sacombank. Meanwhile, Sacombank said that it is still early to make any statement now, because the list of shareholders has not been fixed.

Eximbank’s President Le Hung Dung said that he has to send the dispatch to Sacombank, because he got an anonymous letter saying that Sacombank is dispersing and hiding the bank’s assets and calling for shareholders’ authorization.

“We would like to confirm the news with Sacombank,” Dung said.

Meanwhile, a representative from Sacombank, said that Sacombank is an enterprise which has been operating in accordance with the laws. The asset sale, if it is made, must be approved by the asset liquidation committee, while the bank cannot do that spontaneously.

Besides, the request by Eximbank to re-elect the board of directors has been described by Sacombank as “unprecedented”. The latest shareholders’ meeting of Sacombank selected a board of directors for the term of 2011-2015, which was approved by the State Bank of Vietnam.

Sacombank has also said that by February 21, the bank had not submitted the list of shareholders to the Depository Center. Therefore, one cannot know exactly the ownership ratios of shareholders. The representative of Sacombank has also raised doubts about the possibility of Eximbank holding 51 percent of Sacombank’s shares.

Eximbank’s Le Hung Dung said that before sending the document to Sacombank, he met and discussed with Sacombank’s President Dang Van Thanh on the issue.

“We just try to implement the duty of the shareholder who has been authorized to hold a big proportion of shares at Sacombank,” Dung said.

Dung also said that before Eximbank bought Sacombank’s shares from ANZ, Eximbank received a warning from Dang Van Thanh that this is a wrong more, but Thanh later admitted that this was a right move.

VietNamNet

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