Warburg-backed bank sets new record in $922 million Vietnam IPO

A vendor pushes the cart along a street in Hanoi on April 20, 2018. (AFP Photo/Roslan Rahman)

Techcombank, the Vietnamese lender backed by Warburg Pincus, is setting a fresh record with its initial public offering.

The bank and some existing investors are set to raise about 21 trillion dong ($922 million) in the deal, which would become the country’s biggest-ever initial equity offering, people with knowledge of the matter said Monday. Techcombank is planning to price the sale of 164.1 million shares at 128,000 dong each, the top end of a marketed range, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the details are private.

New records are being set every few months in Vietnam, which has been attracting interest from heavyweights like GIC Pte and Franklin Templeton Investments. It was only in October when mall operator Vincom Retail JSC set the previous record, data compiled by Bloomberg show. It could soon be surpassed again by luxury developer Vinhomes JSC, which is gauging demand for an offering of as much as $2 billion, Bloomberg News reported last week.

Singapore sovereign fund GIC and Fidelity Investments agreed to participate in the Techcombank IPO as cornerstone investors, the deal terms showed earlier. Dragon Capital, Vietnam’s biggest fund manager by assets, and Capital Group Cos. also agreed to buy stock in the offering.

Techcombank, formally known as Vietnam Technological & Commercial Joint Stock Bank, initially offered its shares at 120,000 dong to 128,000 dong apiece. It aims to begin trading June 4, according to the terms. An external representative for Techcombank said she couldn’t immediately comment. – Bloomberg