VPBank secures $300 mln loan from US gov’t development agency

VPBank, the largest bank in Vietnam in terms of charter capital, has struck a deal on a $300 million loan from US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the U.S. government’s development finance institution, to ramp up its operations.

The seven-year loan will help the Vietnamese bank continue sustainable financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), women-led SMEs, and climate change response and low carbon-related projects.

The signing ceremony took place in Hanoi Sunday in the framework of President Biden’s visit to Vietnam, in the presence of U.S. special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry.

Previously, VPBank had secured several sustainable financing deals from international partners, totaling over $1 billion since 2020. Among them, the private bank inked a $500 million syndicated loan from a consortium of Asian Development Bank (ADB), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), ANZ and Maybank Securities Pte. Ltd.

VPBank earlier this year reached an agreement to sell a 15% stake to Japan’s SMBC for about $1.5 billion through a private placement, enabling the latter to be its strategic investor.

The bank last week announced a plan to raise its foreign ownership limit to 30%, the regulatory cap, from the current 17.642%, in a move to prepare for the stake acquisition by SMBC.

Shares of VPBank, listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange as VPB, closed up 0.23% to VND21,800 ($0.91) a unit on Friday.