Electricity of Viet Nam (EVN) today said it will sell 5.3 per cent of its stake holdings at An Binh Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ABBank) to HDBank as a part of a restructuring plan to focus on its core business.

The move follows the country's largest electricity producer's plan announced last December to reduce its stake at ABBank from currently 25 per cent to 20 per cent.

"EVN has submitted to the State Bank of Viet Nam (SVB) a decision to sell 5.3 per cent of its stake in ABBank to HDBank" said EVN General Director Pham Le Thanh.

The announcement was made during an EVN's event on electricity and production cost saving held today in Ha Noi.

Thanh said EVN will now focus on electricity production and distribution and gradually withdraw from non-core sectors.

The company, which invested VND114.9 billion in ABBank and VND1,000 billion in EVN Finance, is estimated to invest VND2,108 billion in non-core businesses (banks, insurance, real estate), accounting for 4.22 per cent of the firm's total investments.

ABBank is now among ten biggest joint-stock banks in Viet Nam by market capitalisation. The bank currently has foreign shareholders such as International Finance Corporation (10 per cent) and Maybank (20 per cent).

EVN last month transferred EVN Telecom, its struggling telecommunications branch, to military run mobile carrier Viettel.

Source: VNS