On July 20th, Mekong Housing Bank’s initial public offering took place at the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange.

Of the more than 64.5 million shares that were up for auction (reserve price of 11 000 dong/share), 17.74 million shares were sold with the highest selling price being 15 000 dong/share and the lowest price being 11 000 dong/share. In total, 3 744 individual and institutional investors took part in the auction.

Statistics from the auctions occurring in the first six months of 2011 show that of the 13 auctions held at both the Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi Stock Exchanges, only over 78 million shares were sold, for a total of 850 billion dong. Among the auctions that recently occurred, it was mostly organizations but not individuals who took part. There were some concerns that MHB’s IPO would face difficulties relating to the poor state of the stock market and the competitiveness of banking shares compared to those of other industries.

However, according to the results of the auction, the total value of the shares sold was of 196.8 billion dong. This represents the interest and confidence held by many investors in the long-term potential of MHB and not on the short-term results of the current market situation.

This success will allow MHB to quickly start the restructuring of its operations, transition its activities to a joint-stock bank model, begin making appropriate structural adjustments, and find strategic partners.