Vietnam’s state-owned Vietcombank aims to raise about $600m this month from a long-delayed initial public offering that is expected to kick off a fresh wave of large-scale privatisations in the Communist-ruled country.

Vietcombank is one of the big four state-owned commercial banks that make up about 65 per cent of Vietnam’s banking system and is the first to be partially privatised. It will sell 97.5m shares, or a 6.5 per cent equity stake, at a minimum price of 100,000 dong each, in effect valuing the bank at a minimum of $9.3bn, according to the Ho Chi Minh City stock exchange.