Competition heats up for acquisition of Home Credit Vietnam

November 07, 2023 | 16:04

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KBank, KB Kookmin, SCB X are shortlisted into the next round of acquisition of Home Credit Vietnam, one of the leading consumer finance companies in the Vietnamese market.

Competition heats up for acquisition of Home Credit Vietnam

As reported by Bloomberg, Thailand’s biggest banks Kasikornbank Pcl (KBank) and SCB X Pcl are among the final bidders for consumer lender Home Credit’s business in Vietnam.

KB Kookmin Bank, a unit of South Korea’s KB Financial Group Inc., has also proceeded into the next round, according to people familiar with the matter.

The assets might be valued at roughly $700 million in this deal. Home Credit hopes to find a buyer for its Vietnamese company by year-end.

Discussions are still ongoing. The bidders could decide against proceeding with offers, while Home Credit could also keep the assets for longer.

This deal is reportedly worth up to $1 billion, and would support KBank's goal of becoming one of the top 20 banks in Vietnam by 2027.

Vietnam’s favourable demographics, stable socioeconomic environment, increasing disposable income, and improving investment environment remain key factors that underpin the inbound investments into the banking sector, such as the $1.5 billion acquisition of a 15 per cent stake in VPBank by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), and the $850 million acquisition of 15 per cent stake in BIDV by KEB Hana Bank.

The potential deal of Home Credit is expected to become the second-largest merger and acquisition (M&A) transaction in Vietnam this year – the largest being made by SMBC. It is also heating up the wave of M&A in Vietnam's consumer finance market.

In October, AEON Financial Service, a unit of Japan’s biggest retailer AEON Group, signed a deal with SeABank to fully acquire its consumer finance unit PTF for $175.42 million.

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