Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, or Vietcombank, will exit Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank, or Orient Bank, by selling its remaining 1.48 million shares through an auction on Sept. 6, Viet Nam News reported Aug. 8.

The shares will be sold at a starting price of 18,876 Vietnamese dong, which will allow the bank to earn an estimated 27.9 billion dong from the transaction. Vietcombank received the shares as bonus shares before it sold 13.2 million Orient Bank shares in December 2017, where it earned about 171 billion dong.

In April, it sold 6.67 million shares to more than 120 investors. The highest and lowest bids for the shares were 28,500 dong and 25,000 dong per share, respectively, compared with 13,000 dong per share set by Vietcombank.

The State Bank of Vietnam only allows commercial banks to own more than a 5% stake in a maximum of two other credit institutions, the report noted. As such, Vietcombank also plans to divest its stakes in Vietnam Export Import Commercial Joint Stock Bank and Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank.

As of Aug. 8, US$1 was equivalent to 23,285.00 Vietnamese dong.