Vingroup retail arm acquires Vietnamese supermarket chain

The deal, whose value has not been revealed, delivers 23 Fivimart outlets to VinMart.

VinCommerce, a member of the Vingroup business conglomerate, bought Fivimart from domestic company Nhat Nam JSC and Japanese retailer AEON, which held 70 percent and 30 percent stakes, respectively.

VinCommerce CEO Thai Thi Thanh Hai said that her company’ vision is to have VinMart and VinMart+ (a chain of convenience stores) outlets not just in Vingroup’s apartment buildings and malls, but also in other neighborhoods.

“The acquisition of Fivimart is part of how we make that vision a reality,” she added.

The acquisition raises the number of VinMart stores to 100 and that of VinMart+ to 1,400.

Hai said that VinCommerce plans to have 200 VinMart and 4,000 VinMart+ stores by 2020.

Nhat Nam JSC sold a 30 percent stake of Fivimart, founded in 2007, to AEON in 2015. 

It had increased its number of outlets from 10 then to 23 now.

The deal saw Fivimart’s revenue increase, by as much as 20 percent a year for some time.

But the company has been reporting losses for the last three years, attributing them to high costs. Its losses amounted to VND60 billion ($2.58 million) in 2015, VND96 billion ($4.13 million) in 2016 and VND23 billion ($989,600) last year.

At the end of last year, Fivimart reported an accumulated loss of almost VND200 billion ($8.6 million), with a debt of VND823 billion ($35.41 million), which was equal to the company's total asset value.