Tokyo, November 8, 2017－Aozora Bank, Ltd. (President and CEO: Shinsuke Baba) (‘Aozora’ or ‘the Bank’) today announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Ho Chi Minh City Securities Corporation (CEO: Johan Nyvene) (‘HSC’) for purposes of formalizing cooperation on cross-border merger and acquisition customer advisory services.

The alliance with HSC, one of the largest securities firms in Vietnam and holding the second largest equity brokerage market share at the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange in 2016, represents Aozora’s sixth alliance with a leading Asian financial institution following the announcement in November 2013 of ‘Aozora Bank’s Asian Business Strategy.’ Previously announced business alliances by Aozora include Singapore’s OCBC, Indonesia’s PT Bank Central Asia TBK, Thailand’s Kasikornbank Public Company Limited, Taiwan’s CTBC Financial Holdings Co., Ltd, and the Philippines’ BDO Unibank, Inc.

With a population in excess of 90 million people, Vietnam is the third most populous nation in the ASEAN region, and in recent years has achieved real GDP growth of approximately 6% per annum. Expansion into the Vietnamese market has become an important growth strategy for Japanese companies. In partnership with HSC, Aozora will possess the capabilities to provide enhanced cross-border M&A advisory services in order to better meet its customers’ business needs in Vietnam.

Aozora aims to earn the trust of its customers as the ‘Primary Secondary Bank: An Even More Reliable Partner,’ and is committed to responding to the management challenges and needs of its customers across Asia through an enhancement of the scope of its services.

Execution date
November 8, 2017

Scope of alliance

• M&A advisory services
• Other related services

Please refer to the link for an overview of AOZORA BANK: http://www.aozorabank.co.jp/english/about/corporate/overview/

Name:    AOZORA BANK Ltd
Founded:    April 1957
CEO:    Shinsuke Baba
Headquarters:          6-1-1 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-8660, Japan
Total assets:    ¥4,744.4 billion (approx. US$41.5 billion as of end-Sep. 2017)
Capital Stock:    ¥100.0 billion (approx. US$876 million yen as of end-Sep. 2017)

(1USD = 114 JPY)