SMFG Adds to Asia Buying Spree with $1.5 Billion VPBank Stake

Vietnam Prosperity JSC Bank sold a 15% stake to Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. for about $1.5 billion, marking the end of a years-long sale process.

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., a unit of SMFG, purchased the stake of the Hanoi-based lender, known as VPBank, through a private placement, the Vietnamese firm said in an emailed statement on Monday, confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report. The deal is the country’s third-largest investment by a foreign investor into a Vietnam-based company, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

This investment is a part of VPBank’s capital raising plan to help it achieve ...