Vietnam VIB forecasts profit rise, plans '08 listing

HANOI, May 23 (Reuters) - Vietnam International Bank (VIB), the country's eighth-largest lender, projected on Friday that its gross profit would jump 65 percent this year to 700 billion dong ($43.6 million).

The Hanoi-based bank said in a statement it would issue new shares to raise its registered capital by 50 percent to 3 trillion dong, sell part of the issue to foreign investors and consider listing on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange this year.

The stock market .VNI has fallen 54 percent this year, closing down 1.54 percent at 428.05 points on Friday. The bearish trend has made many listed firms reluctant to go ahead with their new share issues planned this year.

VIB, worth $180 million based on its $0.9 share price it trades at on the unofficial, unregulated market, has also projected raising its assets by 32 percent to 52 trillion dong by the year-end.

All the targets have been approved by shareholders on Wednesday, the statement said. It did not name foreign candidates who would buy VIB shares.

Vietnam's central bank plans to keep the country's credit growth at 30 percent this year after loans jumped 54 percent last year. The economy expanded 8.5 percent.

VIB said its audited net profit more than doubled to 306.5 billion dong last year and total assets also soared to 39.32 trillion dong from 16.6 trillion dong in the previous year.

VIB's plan to sell a stake to foreign investors follows eight other partly private banks, half of them have each sold a 15 percent stake to a foreign bank in the past several years. The four others sold 10 percent each.

The government caps foreign ownership in a domestic bank at 30 percent and limits strategic investor ownership to 15 percent.