Vietnam Eximbank sells nearly 18% to strategic partners

The Vietnam Export-Import Bank (Eximbank) has sold 17.8% of its shares, worth VND4 trillion (US$248 million), to 17 strategic partners.

Several monster companies including Saigon Industrial Corp., PetroVietnam Finance Company, Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank, Nguyen Kim Trade Center, the Saigon Trade Corporation, and Kinh Do Corp. were among the strategic partners.

The acquisition details were unavailable.

Before this acquisition, Vietnam’s largest confectioner Kinh Do Corp was Eximbank’s largest shareholder, holding a 6.42% stake, which the listed-confectioner had paid $90 million for.
The unlisted bank is considering selling a 30% stake under the central bank’s cap to foreign investors.

An Eximbank representative said the bank was targeting suitable foreign partners, placing a high priority on technology assistance and human resources that could help the bank achieve its goal of becoming the leading credit organization in Vietnam.

Temasek Holdings, an investment arm of Singapore government, has proposed to buy a 10% stake in the bank.

Founded in1989, the Eximbank has established correspondent banking relationship with more than 424 foreign banks in 49 countries enabling it to play an instrumental role in developing commercial financing and international trade.
It has a chartered capital of VND2.8 trillion ($175 million).
The bank has total assets of VND18.33 trillion ($1.1 billion), deposits of VND13.47 trillion, and a pre-tax profit last year of VND258.6 billion ($16 million).

Source: Thanh Nien