SocGen finalises 15 pct share purchase in Vietnam bank

HANOI, Aug 21 (Reuters) - French bank Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) has finalised a deal to buy 15 percent of Vietnam's SeABank, extending its presence in fast growing Southeast Asia.

The French lender signed an agreement with Hanoi-based partly private SeABank to buy 45 million shares on Aug 6, the unlisted Vietnamese lender said in a statement sent to Reuters on Thursday.

Officials at SeABank, or Southeast Asia Bank, declined to give the value of the deal that has made Societe Generale its strategic foreign investor.

Its shares rose to 18,000 dong ($1.09) on the unofficial, unregulated markets on Thursday, up 33 percent since July 18 when the State Bank of Vietnam approved SeABank's share sale to Societe Generale.

The deal would be valued at around $49 million, based on Thursday's price.

"This operation constitutes a significant step for the group's activities in a region with strong growth potential," Jean-Louis Mattei, Head of Societe Generale's International Retail Banking, said in the statement, referring to the purchase.

SeABank has total assets of $1.2 billion and a capital base of 3 trillion dong ($182 million).

The lender, the 12th largest among Vietnam's 37 partly private banks, has projected its capital base will grow by 67 percent to 5 trillion dong by the end of this year.

Vietnam caps foreign ownership in a domestic bank at 30 percent with a 15-percent limit for strategic investors, which could then apply to raise their stake to a maximum 20 percent, subject to government approval.

So far the Vietnamese government has only allowed London-based HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA.L) (0005.HK) to raise its stake in partly private Techcombank to 20 percent, the ceiling for foreign ownership in a domestic bank [ID:nHAN282256]. ($1=16,496 dong) (Reporting by Ho Binh Minh; Editing by Kim Coghill)