Who bought Vingroup's stake in Vincom Retail?

Vingroup has completed the sale of 55% of SDI Trading Development and Investment, which owns a 99% stake in Sado, the biggest shareholder of Vincom Retail with a 41.5% stake.

It now indirectly owns 18.4% of Vincom Retail after the transaction.

A disclosure from SDI on April 4 revealed the buyers.

Ngoc Viet Commerce and Trading Jsc, which was previously the biggest shareholder of SDI with a 84.2% stake, has reduced its ownership to 29.2%.

The four companies that bought into the 55% stake are NP Business Investments Jsc (16%), Thien Phuc Investment and Development Co. (16%), Falcon Investment and Development (12.5%) and Emerald Investment and Development (10.5%).

The latter three companies were established in the property sector in February, each with an initial charter capital of VND20 billion (US$800,000).

Thien Phuc is headquartered in District 11 of Ho Chi Minh City with two founding shareholders. In March, the company’s charter capital was raised to VND1.23 trillion after a new shareholder, Luong Phan Son, bought a 36% stake.

Son is the chairman and shareholder of property developer CapitaLand Tower, a company that issued VND12.2 trillion in bonds in the end of last year.

Falcon, headquartered in HCMC's District 7, was also founded by two shareholders but a new one, Kieu Huu Dung, bought a 49.5% stake in March and increased its charter capital to VND887 billion.

Dung was previously head of the banking department under the State Bank of Vietnam in 2004-2007. He was also chairman of Sacombank in 2014-2017 and later established KDI Holdings, which has interests in property, agriculture and education.

Emerald was also founded by two shareholders and saw a third one, Phuong Anh Phat, joining in March with a 90% stake acquisition, increasing its charter capital to VND1.11 trillion.

Phat is the CEO of Jeep Vietnam Automobiles, an importer and distributor of Jeep vehicles.

Meanwhile, NP saw its charter capital surging from VND505 billion to VND1.26 trillion last month.

It is 90% owned by Nguyen Hoai Nam, CEO of property developer Berjaya Vietnam, who has recently been recommended to be a director of Vincom Retail after Vingroup’s divestment.

Vincom Retail posted revenues of VND9.79 trillion last year, up by one-third from 2022. Its post-tax profit rose 59% to VND4.41 trillion.

It operates 83 malls in 44 locations and plans to open six more this year.