(Bloomberg) -- The World Bank’s International Finance Corp. is seeking a buyer for its stake in Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry & Trade, the country’s third-largest lender by market , according to people with knowledge of the matter.
IFC, which invested in the bank in 2011, is working with an adviser on the potential sale of its 8 percent stake, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Shares of VietinBank have risen 11 percent this year through Wednesday, giving it a market of about 99.8 trillion dong ($4.3 billion).
Foreign buyers have announced at least $2.2 billion of investments in Vietnamese banks since the beginning of 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The largest was in 2013, when Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. bought a 19.7 percent stake in VietinBank for $742 million, the data show.
U.S. private equity firm Warburg Pincus agreed in March to buy a stake in Techcombank for more than $370 million. In April, Techcombank raised $922 million in what was the country’s biggest-ever initial public offering at the time. Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte has also shown interest in sector, pursuing a stake in Vietcombank in 2016.
A spokeswoman for IFC and VietinBank Chief Executive Officer Le Duc Tho declined to comment.
State Bank of Vietnam owns 64.5 percent of VietinBank, while MUFG is the second-biggest shareholder with its 19.7 percent stake, according to the Vietnamese lender’s website.
VietinBank shares rose 2.2 percent as of 2:22 p.m. local time, poised for the highest close since Aug. 30. The benchmark VN Index gained 0.8 percent.
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