Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (‘Freshfields’) has advised Prudential Holdings Limited (‘Prudential’), a subsidiary of Prudential plc, on its US$151m auction sale of 100 per cent of Prudential Vietnam Finance Company Limited (‘Prudential Vietnam Finance’), a Vietnam-based consumer finance business, for US$151m.  The purchaser is Shinhan Card Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of the Shinhan Financial Group (a leading Korean financial institution), and the sale is subject to regulatory approvals.

Prudential and Shinhan have also agreed a new long-term bancassurance partnership in Vietnam and Indonesia in connection with the sale.

Prudential Vietnam Finance was launched in 2006 as the first foreign, non-bank financial institution licensed for consumer finance lending in Vietnam.  Today it is the fourth-largest consumer finance company by outstanding loan balance.

The Freshfields team advising on the deal was led by Hong Kong partner Edward Freeman.