Moc Chau Milk wants to allow 100 percent foreign ownership

It seeks to do this by removing some business registries in which the government restricts 100 percent foreign ownership, such as wholesale trade of fertilizer and pesticides.

A company statement said it is seeking shareholders’ approval for plans to raise funds for expansion. It plans to issue more shares to existing shareholders this year to raise 1.2 trillion ($52 million), which will be used to invest in a farm with a capacity of 4,000 cows, upgrade the existing farm and build a new factory.

It is also eying a listing on Vietnam’s main bourse, the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, within nine months after it receives shareholders’ approval.

Moc Chau Milk became a subsidiary of dairy giant Vinamilk in December last year. At that time, Vinamilk had more than half the nation’s dairy market share, and Moc Chau Milk had 9 percent.

Mai Kieu Lieu, CEO of Vinamilk and chairwoman of Moc Chau Milk, had said earlier that Vinamilk has a strong distribution network in the south that will help Moc Chau Milk, which is based in the northern province of Son La, to expand nationwide.

Vietnam’s dairy market value rose 8.9 percent to VND121 trillion ($5.2 billion) last year, according to market research firm Euromonitor.