Sacombank largest seller to state-owned debt buyer

VAMC said it bought over VND3.14 trillion ($137 million) worth of bad debts from five credit institutions at market prices last year, surpassing the government’s target.

Of the five, Sacombank was the largest seller, selling two loans worth VND2.61 trillion ($114 million) with collateral in the form of real estate and machinery in Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City.

VAMC also bought debts of VND299 billion ($13.1 million) at market prices from the state-owned Agribank, VND40 billion ($1.75 million) from HDBank and VND10 billion ($437,000) from Viet Capital Bank, which is the smallest debt.

VietinBank sold debt worth VND191 billion ($8.34 million) at a lower price.

VAMC’s management said it has recovered VND130 billion ($5.68 million) from the debts it bought.

For the full year it targets buying VND3.5 trillion ($153 million) worth of debts and recovering VND4.9 trillion ($214 million) from the debts it bought.

A plan approved by the government last year envisages the company increasing its charter capital from VND2 trillion ($87.4 million) now to VND5 trillion ($218.5 million) by 2018 and VND10 trillion ($437 million) by 2020.

The wholly state-owned firm, established in 2013, is permitted to buy bad debts from banks, put collateral up for sale and recover and restructure debts.