Vietnam’s state telecom giant accelerates divestment under its restructuring mandate, offering a rare large-scale banking stake to both local and foreign investors.
Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) is preparing to sell its entire shareholding in Maritime Bank (MSB), marking one of Vietnam’s most significant state-led divestments in the banking sector this year. The move reflects Hanoi’s broader push to streamline state-owned enterprises, improve capital efficiency, and attract deeper private and foreign participation in the country’s financial system.
VNPT plans to auction 188.7 million MSB shares — equivalent to just over 6% of the bank’s charter capital — on December 26, in compliance with the Prime Minister’s restructuring directive requiring the group to fully or partially exit 26 subsidiaries by year-end. The starting price is set at 18,239 VND per share, roughly 1.4 times MSB’s current trading price, placing the minimum proceeds at approximately 3,440 billion VND (about US$140 million). Both domestic and international investors will be allowed to participate.
The telecom conglomerate currently holds 157 million MSB shares on its 2024 financial statements, valued at 1,832 billion VND, compared with an original cost of just 580 billion VND — illustrating the substantial capital gains locked in the upcoming sale. VNPT’s stake increased this year due to MSB’s 20% stock dividend, even though the cost basis remained unchanged.
VNPT has been a founding shareholder of MSB — formerly Maritime Bank — since its establishment in 1991 and has attempted several times over the past decade to divest. The upcoming auction is seen as the group’s most decisive step yet toward fulfilling its SOE restructuring obligations.
MSB continues to show strong financial performance, reporting 4,760 billion VND in pre-tax profit in the first nine months of 2025 and expanding total assets to 356 trillion VND, up 11% from last year. The divestment will open the door for strategic investors seeking exposure to Vietnam’s rapidly evolving banking sector, where consolidation, digital transformation, and Basel III adoption are accelerating.
As Vietnam deepens its commitment to SOE reform, the sale raises a broader question for the market: will major divestments like VNPT–MSB unlock fresh liquidity and foreign inflows — or will premium pricing test investor appetite in a turbulent global rate environment?
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Source: Vietnam Insider