Moldovan commercial bank FinComBank on Monday announced plans to increase its equity capital to 129.5 million lei ($10.7 million/7.7 million euro) through a 36.6 million lei share issue to finance its growth and branch network expansion.

The capital hike will allow it to launch new banking products and to expand its network by opening branches in central and southern Moldova, FinComBank said in a statement.

"As a result of the share issue, the U.S. government-backed private equity fund Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF) will become a shareholder of the bank with a 25% stake," it added.

FinComBank will issue 366,442 shares with a par value of 100 lei at par. At present the bank, whose shares are not quoted on the bourse, has around 120 shareholders. It reported a 64.4% jump in first-half net profit on the year to 17.1 million lei.

WNISEF was opened 10 years ago to stimulate investment inflows for further development of small business in Moldova and Ukraine. The Fund has committed $120 million (87 million euro) to 29 companies in the two countries.

FinComBank, established in 1993, had 13 branches and 21 representative offices in the country of four million people at the end of June. The number of the bank's clients rose to 75,700 in the first half from 57,100 a year earlier. Moldova has 15 commercial banks.

(1 euro=16.7392 Moldovan lei)