IFC to quit as major shareholder in Vietnam insurer PVI

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, and two affiliated funds have registered to sell a combined 9 million shares in PVI Holdings, a leading non-life insurer in Vietnam.

IFC, IFC Financial Institutions Growth Fund, and IFC Emerging Asia Fund each plan to unload 3 million shares in PVI Holdings, listed on the Hanoi Stock Exchange as PVI, over one month starting June 26.

If successful, they will cut their combined holding in PVI to 5.05 million shares, or a 2.16% stake, from the current 6%, and no longer be a major shareholder.

PVI shares ended Wednesday down 2.4% at VND57,100 ($2.24) apiece, marking the third consecutive close in the red.

At this price, the IFC and the two funds are expected to rake in VND514 billion ($20.2 million) from selling 9 million PVI shares.

The IFC and its two funds bought a combined 6.29% stake in PVI from HDI Global SE in August 2021. Germany’s HDI Global SE is now PVI’s largest shareholder, with 38.89%, trailed by state-owned Petrovietnam with 35%.

PVI earned an audited consolidated net profit of VND359.64 billion ($14.12 million) on revenue of VND1.91 trillion in Q1/2024, up 41% and 16% year-on-year, respectively.

This year, the firm aims to make a pre-tax profit of VND1.08 trillion ($42.4 million) on revenue of VND17.4 trillion ($683.3 million).