Commonwealth Bank to acquire 5% stake in Vietnam International Bank for $55m

This will increase Commonwealth’s stake to 20%, the maximum allowed for a foreign investor.

According to Bloomberg’s report, Commonwealth Bank of Australia will pay 1.15 trillion dong ($55 million) for an additional 5 percent stake in Vietnam International Commercial Joint-Stock Bank.

The purchase, approved by regulators in July, will increase Commonwealth’s stake to 20 percent, the maximum allowed for a foreign investor, from 15 percent, the Vietnamese lender known as VIB said in a statement published at a briefing in Hanoi today.

“Despite the short-term difficulties, Vietnam’s banking system is still very attractive to foreign investors from a strategic point of view, on the long-term horizon,” said Attila Vajda, Ho Chi Minh City-based head of institutional clients at ACB Securities Co.

Read the full report here.