Vietnam-based Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank plans to increase its registered capital by 50% to 7.5 trillion dong through the issuance of shares ahead of its planned listing, Bloomberg News reported May 21, citing Chairman Trinh Van Tuan.

The lender seeks to list 750 million shares on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange in the second half, Tuan said, who declined to disclose the planned share price.

Prior to the listing, the bank aims to sell 800 billion dong of shares to investors in a private placement and issue 14.2% of dividend shares and 20.5% of shares to existing shareholders. It also plans to offer up to 25% of its shares to foreign investors to increase its registered capital.

The IPO is expected to bring the bank's market capitalization to about US$1 billion. The bank is planning roadshows in Singapore, Hong Kong and London in June and July in preparation for the listing.

Orient Commercial Bank will become the fourth Vietnamese bank to list its shares on the local bourse, following those of HDBank, Tien Phong Commercial Joint Stock Bank and Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank, which all plan to list in June.

In April, Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, or Vietcombank, sold its remaining shares in Orient Commercial Bank to comply with rules on commercial banks' ownership in other banks. Vietcombank sold 6.67 million shares of Orient Commercial Bank to more than 120 investors in an auction April 17.

As of May 21, US$1 was equivalent to 22,774.00 Vietnamese dong.