1. DECREE 163/2018/ND-CP
“New regulations on bond issuance“
Decree No 163/2018/ND-Cp (“Decree 163”) dated 04/12/2018 of the Government providing for issuance of corporate bond is effective as 01/02/2019 and replaces Decree No 90/2011/ND-CP.
Decree 163 supplements the definition of “Green corporate bonds”, which is the type of corporate bond issued to invest in environmental protection projects in accordance with the Law on Environmental Protection.
When issuing non-convertible bonds in the domestic market, corporates are not required to meet conditions on production, business activities and results of the year preceding the issuing year, which must be profitable (according to financial statements) as stipulated in Decree No 90.
In addition, Decree 163 specified the procedures for corporates to issue bonds in the domestic market as follows:
- Prepare bond issuance documents;
- Publication of information before the issuance to the Stock Exchange;
- Organize the bond issuance;
- Publication of information on bond issuance results and reporting of issuance results to the Stock Exchange;
- Performing bond deposit;
- Payment of bond principals and interests; and
- Publication of information and periodic reports from the completion of bond issuance until maturity of bonds.
2. CIRCULAR 36/2018/TT-NHNN
“Specifying the conditions for lending capital for offshore investment“
Circular No 36/2018 / TT-NHNN (“Circular 36”) dated 25/12/2018 of the State Bank of Vietnam on lending activities by credit institutions, foreign bank branches to customers for offshore investment is effective as 15/02/2019 and replaces Circular No 10/2006/TT-NHNN.
Circular 36 specifies the conditions for lending capital, namely:
- The customer is a legal entity with civil legal capacity, or an individual with full civil act capacity;
- The customer has already been granted an Offshore Investment Registration Certificate and the investment activities have already been approved or licensed by the host country;
- The customer has projects, investment plans that are appraised to be feasible and the capability to pay debts; and
- The customer does not incur bad debts for 2 consecutive years up to the time of borrowing.
In addition, Circular 36 limits the maximum lending limit of a credit institution to be 70% of the customer’s offshore investment capital.
