Singapore government fund lowers stake in Masan

By Dat Nguyen September 14, 2021 | 04:39 pm PT

A staff arranges goods at a VinMart outlet operated by Masan Group. Photo courtesy of Masan Group

The Government of Singapore has reduced its ownership in conglomerate Masan Group by a 1.65 percent stake, its second major sale this year.

The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) sold 19.5 million MSN shares owned by it and subsidiary Ardolis Investment on Sept. 9, according to a statement by Masan.

The sale lowered GIC’s ownership in the company from 10.34 percent to 8.69 percent.

The deal was estimated at VND2.5 trillion ($110.35 million) based on market price.

GIC is now the second biggest foreign shareholder in Masan behind South Korea’s SK Group with a 9.31 percent stake.

GIC started purchasing MSN shares in 2018. In January, it sold 19.8 million shares.

Masan JSC (MIC), a company of Masan’s chairman Nguyen Dang Quang, had recently registered to purchase 2 million MSN shares to increase its ownership by 0.17 percent to 31.55 percent.

Masan Group’s profit in the first half surged eight times year-on-year to VND979 billion.