The OCBC sold its stake of more than 85.83 million shares, accounting for 14.88 per cent of VPBank's charter capital, on November 22, the bank announced yesterday.— Photo TNCK

HA NOI (Biz Hub)— Viet Nam Prosperity Bank's (VPBank) only foreign shareholder, the Oversea Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC), has withdrawn from the bank.

The Singapore-based OCBC sold its stake of more than 85.83 million shares, accounting for 14.88 per cent of VPBank's charter capital, on November 22, the bank announced yesterday.

The shares were picked up by individual domestic investors, according to an official statement.

The deal was given the nod from the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) with the bank adamant the sale will not affect charter capital, financial results or operations.

The withdrawal ends seven years of OCBC as a major foreign shareholder of VPBank, after first buying a 10 per cent stake in VPBank back in 2006.

Additional purchases of a 4.88 per cent of shares were made in 2008.

The sale marks the second withdrawal by major investors in the bank in the last 12 months.

Chau Tho Investment JSC also sold its holdings (86.5 million shares) in VPBank in December last year after being the top shareholder of VPBank shares with a 14.99 per cent stake.

According to the bank's financial report, VPBank earned more than VND423 billion (US$20.14 million) in after-tax profit in the first nine months of this year.

However, the result was lower than the same period last year and lower than that recorded in the 2008-11 period.

The total asset of the bank reached VND119.577 trillion ($5.69 billion) on September 30. — VNS