HANOI, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) is set to make initial public offering (IPO) on Dec.26, becoming the first state-owned bank to do so, according to Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

    Vietcombank will offer 97.5 million shares at an initial price of 100,000 Vietnamese dong (VND) (nearly 6.3 U.S. dollars) each to both domestic and foreign investors. After the IPO, its shares will be listed in the local stock market.

    The bank made after-tax profits of over 1.5 trillion VND (nearly 93.8 million dollars) in the first nine months of this year, posting a year-on-year drop of 26.6 percent, according to its latest financial report.

    It currently has total assets of 186 trillion VND (11.6 billion dollars), including fixed assets of 725.7 billion VND (nearly 45.4million dollars).

    As of Sept. 30, Vietcombank's total equity was 11.7 trillion VND (371.3 million dollars), including charter capital of 4.4 trillion VND (275 million dollars) and retained earnings of 4,750 billion VND (296.9 million dollars).

    Under a recent decision of the Vietnamese government, five large state-owned commercial banks, including Vietcombank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of Vietnam, the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam, the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development and the Mekong Housing Development Bank should be equalized in the 2007-2009 period.