VietNamNet Bridge – Many Vietnamese banks believe that calling for foreign capital is the best solution for them to improve their financial capability.

However, they have admitted that it is very difficult to find suitable foreign partners.

Vo Quoc Thang, Chair of Kien Long Bank, said the bank is looking for foreign strategic partners, planning to sell 15-20 percent of the bank’s shares to foreign investors to improve its financial capability.

However, Thang said it is impossible to find suitable partners overnight, adding that Kien Long does not plan to make M&A in 2014.

Deputy general director of Military Bank Le Hai also said the bank wishes to find foreign strategic partners who can help increase capital and share experiences.

Hai said the ceiling foreign ownership ratio in the bank could be up to 30 percent, while foreign investors now hold 10 percent of shares.

VP Bank is also looking for new strategic partners after parting with OCBC late last year.

VP Bank was the first Vietnamese bank which sold shares to foreign strategic partners in 2006. The room for foreign investors in VP Bank is still full at 30 percent.

However, analysts warned that it will be difficult to attract foreign investors.

Some months ago, local newspapers reported that the deal of GP Bank selling 100 percent of its shares to a UOB, a Singaporean bank, was nearly wrapped up with the green light turned on by the government of Vietnam.

In the latest news, Saigon Dau tu quoted its sources as saying that the “mission is impossible”. UOB now lists its shares on the Singapore bourse, which means that the plan to buy shares of a weak bank like GP Bank will be considered more thoroughly by its shareholders.

The sources said that Vietnam’s plan to attract foreign capital to restructure GP Bank may fail.

Sacombank and Dong A Bank both also announced they were looking for foreign partners one or two years ago. However, no new news about the plans have been released so far.

Sacombank has been looking for foreign strategic partners since early 2013 after saying goodbye to ANZ.

HD Bank decided to seek foreign strategic partners even before it admitted Dai A Bank and bought SGVF, a finance company.

However, it is now still under negotiations with some candidates from Japan and Europe.

Meanwhile, Dat Viet has quoted some experts as saying that Japanese do not show big interests in Vietnamese bank M&A deals.

Masakata Sam Yoshida from RECOF, a Japanese consultancy firm, said in the newspaper that, in the eyes of Japanese investors, Vietnamese medium-tier banks are not appreciated more than other regional banks.

Three Vietnamese big banks, namely VietinBank, Vietcombank and Eximbank, have sold their shares to Japanese bankers. However, smaller banks seemingly cannot catch the attention of Japanese banks.

Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon in February quoted Sacombank President as saying that Sacombank wants to sell 15 percent of its shares to Japanese partners, but the negotiations have failed.