Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, known as Vietcombank, has agreed to sell a 15 percent interest to Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group for 11.8 trillion Vietnamese dong (USD567.3 million).

 

Under the agreement, the Mizuho Corporate Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mizuho Financial Group, will purchase 347.6 million new shares of Vietcombank at 34,000 Vietnamese dong per share.  The Japanese firm can appoint one director to Vietcombank’s board, following its investment, subject to certain approvals.

 

The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2012. 

 

Upon completion of the acquisition, Mizuho will be the sole foreign strategic shareholder in Vietcombank and, together with its affiliates Mizuho Bank and Mizuho Securities, will offer the Vietnamese bank technical assistance across all business including the secondment of specialist employees and the provision of training to Vietcombank.

 

 “The investment by Mizuho is expected to help Vietcombank maintain its market leadership in Vietnam, expand into international markets and achieve its target of ranking among the 70 largest financial service groups in Asia ex Japan before 2020,” Vietcombank said in a statement.

 

Mizuho is one of the largest financial services providers globally with market capitalization of USD35.5 billion and total assets of USD2 trillion. The group has over 57,000 staff working in about 980 offices in and out of Japan.

 

Established in 1962, Vietcombank is one of the leading banks in Vietnam with an asset size of approximately USD 16.5 billion and market capitalization of US$2.6 billion holds a dominant position in trade finance and foreign exchange business in Vietnam. It is a market leader across corporate banking segment in Vietnam, with a dominant position in trade finance and foreign exchange business. As at 31 March 2011, the bank operated a domestic network of 74 branches, 303 sub-branches and 1,700 ATMs.