HDBank plans sale to Japanese investors

HDBank plans sale to Japanese investors

HCM City Development Bank (HDBank) will likely sell a 30 per cent stake to Japanese investors and list shares on the HCM City Stock Exchange, US financial news site Bloomberg reported.

Viet Nam News could not reach HDBank for comments.

The bank's chairwoman Le Thi Bang Tam told Bloomberg that her bank was negotiating a 30 per cent share sale with three Japanese investors, which was expected to be executed next year.

However, Tam did not reveal her partners or the value of the deal.

HDBank shares on the over-the-counter market are valued at VND7,000 (US$0.3) per unit. Therefore, 30 per cent of its shares after acquiring DaiA Bank may be equivalent to VND1.7 trillion ($80.18 million).

Tam said she expected the deal would help HDBank expand its business with Japanese clients, the biggest investors in Viet Nam's financial market.

HDBank's deal would follow Vietinbank's (CTG) VND15.5 trillion ($731.1 million) partnership with Japanese Mitsubishi UFJ last December.

The merger with Dai A Bank, expected to be finalised in a few weeks, would give HDBank total assets of VND93 trillion ($4.3 billion) by the end of next year's first quarter or 52.4 per cent more than the current value.

HDBank's non-performing loans (NPLs) reached 3 per cent as of September. The bank planned to offload some of the debt to the Viet Nam Asset Management Company.

Viet Nam's banking system has one of the highest NPL ratios in Southeast Asia, according to rating agency Fitch.

Meanwhile, in October, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung hinted the Government could lift the cap on foreign ownership in banks in the near future.

Currently, foreign ownership in a Vietnamese bank cannot exceed 30 per cent, while a single foreign investor is allowed to hold a maximum of 20 per cent. 

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