Shinhan Card Co., a credit card business unit of South Korea’s leading financial group Shinhan Financial Group, signed a contract to acquire a full stake in Prudential Vietnam Finance Company Limited (PVFC) for 161.4 billion won ($150.7 million).

Shinhan Financial Group announced in a disclosure on Tuesday that Shinhan Card will buy a 100 percent stake in PVFC, the Vietnamese first foreign-based consumer finance company, from U.K.-based financial service group Prudential plc. PVFC is now the Vietnam’s fourth largest consumer finance firm with more than 10 billion won in net income as of the end of 2016.

Shinhan Card expects the acquisition would help it to expand its business scope in Vietnam and attract customers of Shinhan Bank Vietnam. An official from the company said that it would set up various business models after the takeover and help Shinhan Financial Group to become a comprehensive financial service provider in Vietnam. Shinhan and Prudential on the same day also agreed to jointly sell bancassurance products - insurance policies sold at banks - in Vietnam and Indonesia.

The acquisition is part of Shinhan Financial Group’s efforts to achieve its mid- to long-term goal to become Asia’s leading financial group by striking merger and acquisition deals and fostering new growth engines. Last year, Shinhan Bank Vietnam took over Australia-based ANZ’s retail banking business in Vietnam.

By Kim Tae-sung and Choi Mira

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