OCB employees give instructions to customers at a branch. Photo courtesy of OCB. 

Japan’s Aozora Bank Ltd could acquire 9.91 percent of Vietnam’s Orient Commercial Joint Stock Bank in a VND1.22 trillion ($52.8 million) deal. 

OCB is seeking shareholders’ approval to issue the private placement to the Japanese bank, with an offered price not lower than the book value per share at the end of the latest quarter.

As OCB’s over-the-counter (OCT) shares are being traded from VND14,100-15,900 each (61-69 cents), Aozora will need to spend at least VND1.22 trillion ($52.8 million) on the deal, at VND14,100 apiece.

Aozora was established in 1957. It has a total asset value of $48 billion and is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange at a market cap of $3.16 billion.

OCB’s charter capital is currently around VND7.9 trillion ($341.9 million). Its January-September pre-tax profit last year was almost VND1.94 trillion ($83.96 million), up 15.3 percent year-on-year.

Last year saw several foreign investors acquiring stakes or expressing interest in owning shares of Vietnamese banks.  

Vietnam’s largest bank by asset, BIDV, sold a 15 percent stake to South Korea’s KEB Hana Bank in November, while Vietcombank had in early 2019 sold a 3 percent stake to Japanese and Singaporean investors.