SeABank's loan agreement with US International Development Finance Corp are among 10 deals announced recently, valued at a total of nearly US$1.92bil. — Vietnam News/ANN
HANOI: Many Vietnamese businesses are boosting foreign fundraising to cope with their capital shortage amid the country’s tightening monetary policy.
In the context of tightened and expensive domestic capital sources, mobilising capital from abroad is an opportunity for local enterprises and banks, and many of them have recently announced huge loan agreements with foreign financial institutions.
A recent report from financial data service provider FiinGroup showed the channel for raising capital through domestic bonds is gloomy, but many domestic enterprises still succeeded in mobilising international loans. Specifically, 10 deals announced recently had a total value of nearly US$1.92bil (RM8.65bil).
Among the deals, VPBank signed a loan agreement worth US$500mil (RM2.25 trillion) on Nov 11 with five major financial institutions, the Asian Development Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, Japan International Cooperation Agency, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd and Maybank Securities Pte Ltd, a member of the Maybank Investment Banking Group.
VPBank chief executive officer Nguyen Duc Vinh said: “The capital sources will assist VPBank in promoting credit programmes for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam.
“These include businesses owned by women and businesses in healthcare, education, hygiene, traffic and the construction of social housing, providing them with access to relatively low-cost capital for development.”
SeABank said it signed a loan agreement worth US$200mil (RM901mil) with the US International Development Finance Corp (DFC).
With support from DFC, SeABank will improve its financial capacity to better implement the proposed projects, focus on the credit gap and solve the gap between the financial needs of the market and the existing source of money in the economy.
Previously, the Vietnam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VIB) disbursed a US$150mil (RM676mil) loan from the International Finance Corp (IFC).
With a term of five years, the IFC-led loan aims to support VIB in boosting its loan portfolio for individual customers who are looking to buy, build and repair houses.
Meanwhile, at least 30% of the disbursement value will be financed for home loans worth less than US$35,000 (RM157,692).
Not only domestic banks but also local enterprises announced huge foreign capital-raising contracts.
F88 Business Joint Stock Co said it had successfully raised a US$60mil (RM270mil) loan from CLSA Capital Partners (HK) Limited and Lendable.
Since the beginning of the year, F88 has raised US$70mil (RM315mil) from the international fundraising market.
Masan Group Joint Stock Co and the Sherpa Co Ltd, a direct subsidiary of Masan, have recently been provided a US$600mil (RM2.7 trillion) syndicated term loan.
This was the largest syndicated loan with the longest term that Masan has ever raised, attracting 37 lenders in the process.
Previously, Be Group Joint Stock Co signed a loan contract of up to US$100mil (RM451mil) with Deutsche Bank (Germany), while Viet Capital Securities Joint Stock Co signed a loan contract with a limit of US$105mil (RM473mil) and the right to be extended up to US$150mil (RM676mil) with a group of foreign banks.
At the end of October 2022, Loc Troi Group successfully approached a US$100mil (RM451mil) credit package provided by the Military Joint Stock Commercial Bank and six international banks with syndicated loans to expand high-quality rice production.
According to Huynh Van Thon, chairman of Loc Troi Group, besides the signed loan contract for US$100mil (RM451mil), the group hopes to raise another US$1bil (RM4.5bil) from the international capital market to develop one million hectares of high-quality rice.
With the US$100mil (RM451mil) loan, the group has reached an optimal and stable interest rate agreement, which will help it develop steadily in the near future.
According to experts, as fundraising in the domestic market is facing difficulties, the huge deals are a bright spot to help domestic enterprises continually promote their businesses and production and create a driver for further growth next year.
At the same time, success is also a motivation for other enterprises to seek new capital.
They said international rating agencies’ upgrades of Vietnam had created favourable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to have access to international capital at reasonable interest rates. — Viet Nam News/ANN
