GIC and Norway’s Norfund will buy about 30 percent of Yoma Bank for 130 billion kyat ($88.7 million).
Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC has taken a 20-percent stake in Myanmar lender Yoma Bank, «Bloomberg» reported on Wednesday (behind paywall).
Yoma was founded in 1993 and has 80 branches in the country, employing 3,000 people. It also runs Wave Money, a joint venture with local telecoms giant Telenor Myanmar, to provide financial services on mobile phones.
In June 2019, Yoma Bank became Myanmar’s first commercial lender with a foreign stakeholder, following a decision by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank's investment arm, to convert a $5 million loan into a 5-percent equity shareholding.
«Post the introduction of the new investors, we will be the best capitalized local bank in Myanmar,» Yoma Bank CEO Dean Cleland told the publication.
Promising Market
Myanmar has an expanding middle class and an urbanized and tech-savvy population, and has drawn the interest of investors with its fast-growing economy and reforms that have liberalized the economy.
The country's new Companies Law, which came into force in August 2018, permits foreign investors to acquire up to a 35-percent stake in local companies. In January, the central bank announced a shake-up of the banking sector, opening it to foreign investors.
