A man walks past an AMK Microfinance branch in 2015. Heng Chivoan
AMK Microfinance, the country’s fifth largest such institution by total assets last year, has sold 80 per cent of its stake to Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank (SCSB) for an undisclosed sum, an AMK executive confirmed on Thursday.
While the value of the deal was not publicised, AMK’s annual report last year revealed that its assets were worth $282.8 million.
AMK CEO Kea Borann told The Post on Thursday that the acquisition had been approved by the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) on Tuesday.
Even though SCSB now holds the majority stake in AMK, Borann said the firm will continue to operate under the AMK name with the same management team. He said the new shareholder will keep AMK’s operations the same as before and focus on the rural market.
“We believe that a strong banking system needs a shareholder with huge capital, and so SCSB is the right candidate to leverage AMK to the next step."
“When we have a major source of funds and experts waiting to help, AMK will have more opportunities to diversify our products and services and serve our customers, especially those in rural areas,” Borann said.
An AMK media release said there were many investors negotiating to buy a stake in the company, but it decided to sell a majority stake to SCSB because both seek to use financial services to help improve the peoples’ livelihood.
An annual report at the end of last year showed AMK’s total borrowings stood at $214 million – an increase from $161 million at the end of 2016.
AMK’s total deposits were at $121.6 million at the end of last year. This was up from the $90.6 million recorded the year before.
Despite the growing numbers, AMK saw a decline in net profit last year, down to $5.27 million from $6.63 million the year before.
Last week, Samic Microfinance, an institution that was worth $17.3 million last year, sold its entire operations to South Korea-based NongHyup Bank.
After the acquisition, Samic was renamed NongHup Finance Cambodia following acquisition approvals from the NBC and the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce.
