HANOI -- Dutch development bank FMO is considering committing a total of $40 million in trade financing to Vietnamese commercial lender HDBank.
The proposed financing will give HDBank more capacity to grow its trade finance business, especially in renewable energy, FMO said. The investment would be its first green trade finance deal.
"With the proposed transaction, FMO meets its green ambitions and regains its foothold in the financial services space in Vietnam, which is one of the fastest growing economies in Southeast Asia," it said.
Vietnam is among the most 10 polluted countries in the world and HDBank has been active in rolling out green financing programs in the country.
A midrange lender with total assets of $9 billion as of June, HDBank has a roughly 2% market share in Vietnam in terms of assets and deposits. The bank went public in early 2018 and has a market capitalization of about $1.2 billion.
Japan's Credit Saison is a 49% shareholder in the bank's consumer finance arm, HD Saison.
HDBank is 13.34% owned by Sovico Holdings, which runs businesses engaged in hydropower, aviation and real estate. Sovico is owned by Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, chairwoman of budget airline Vietjet.
FMO previously committed $15 million to a Vietnam fund controlled by Excelsior Capital Asia. Meanwhile, in the energy sector, the Dutch bank has invested in SPV Lakeside Energy in Pakistan, Berkeley Energy Commercial & Industrial and Acumen Fund.
FMO and the Asian Development Bank plan to jointly invest $60 million in the renewable business of local conglomerate Thanh Thanh Cong.
