(11 January 2018 – Vietnam) Standard Chartered has sold its entire stake in Vietnam’s Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), bringing a 12-year partnership to an end.
According to an announcement by the Vietnam Depository Securities Centre, StanChart subsidiaries Standard Chartered APR Ltd and Standard Chartered Ltd transferred their combined 154.1 million shares in the Vietnamese bank.
Standard Chartered APR transferred shares equivalent to an 8.75 percent stake in ACB to Estes Investment Ltd and Sather Gate Investment Ltd. Meanwhile, Standard Chartered (Hong Kong) Ltd sold its 6.25 percent stake to three investment companies, namely Boardwalk South Ltd, Whistler Investment Ltd and Estes Investment Ltd.
Previously, Standard Chartered had withdrawn its representatives from ACB’s board of directors.
ACB’s shares were trading at around VND40,000 (A$2.21) a share on the Hanoi Stock Exchange, valuing the sale at about VND6 trillion (A$332 million).
In 2005, Standard Chartered had spent US$22 million to acquire an 8.56 percent stake in ACB at VND62,000 ($2.75) per share. In 2008, it increased its holding in the Vietnamese bank by acquiring IFC’s entire 6.16 percent stake in ACB and buying an additional 7.1 percent of its convertible bonds.
Standard Chartered is the latest foreign bank to sell its holding in Vietnamese lenders. Recently, Paris-based bank BNP Paribas offloaded its entire 18.68 percent stake in Orient Commercial Bank (OCB), ending a 10-year alliance between the two banks.