Mitsubishi takes stake in Vietnamese bank

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is to buy a 20 per cent stake in Vietin Bank for 15

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is to buy a 20 per cent stake in Vietin Bank for 15.5 trillion dong ($743 million), the biggest Japanese investment in a Vietnamese bank.

The lender’s Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ unit will buy the stake from the Vietnamese government by the end of 2013, the companies said in a joint statement.

Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan’s biggest bank, joins Mizuho Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group in investing in Vietnam as a shrinking home market spurs them to expand abroad.

While Vietnam has attracted Japanese firms from Canon to Kao, the country is grappling with bad loans and the slowest economic growth since 1999.

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Vietin Bank is the nation’s second-biggest publicly traded lender, with a market value of 54 trillion dong.