Vietnam’s VPBank sells US$1.5 billion stake to Japan’s SMFG unit

VIETNAM Prosperity Bank sold a 15 per cent stake to Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group for about US$1.5 billion, marking the end of a years-long sale process.

The Hanoi-based lender, known as VPBank, sold the stake to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, a unit of SMFG, through a private placement, the Vietnamese firm said on Monday (Mar 27), confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report. The deal is part of VPBank’s capital raising plan to help it achieve its growth strategy over the next five years, it added. 

Japan’s top banks are investing billions of dollars in Asia to provide services to the region’s rapidly expanding middle class. Last November, Sumitomo Mitsui agreed to buy an additional stake in Philippines-based Rizal Commercial Banking for about US$460 million. 

VPBank is one of the largest private banks in Vietnam, with businesses that range across retail, corporate, consumer finance and wealth management operations. It had been working on the plan to sell the 15 per cent stake to a strategic investor since 2021.

Sumitomo Mitsui’s chief executive officer Jun Ohta said in January that the company was discussing a capital tie-up with VPBank, building on an alliance with the lender. It had previously acquired a 49 per cent stake in Vietnamese consumer lender FE Credit from VPBank. BLOOMBERG