Vietnam's VPBank nears $1.4 bln stake sale to Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui: Report

Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank is nearing a deal to sell a 15% stake to Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc for $1.4 billion, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday citing people familiar with the transaction.

The Vietnamese bank will sell more than 1 billion shares to SMBC Consumer Finance, a unit of the Japanese "megabank" for 32,000 dong to 33,000 dong ($1.35-$1.39) each, the report said.

A VPBank representative declined to comment. Sumitomo Mitsui could not immediately be reached for comment outside business hours.

Japan's second-largest banking group is seeking to capture growth in Asian emerging markets through acquisitions, spurred by limited business opportunities at home with ultra-low interest rates and an ageing population.

Sumitomo Mitsui said in November it would buy an additional 15% in the Philippines' Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.