Singapore investment giants persist in effort to buy stake in Vinamilk

By Minh Son July 7, 2019 | 08:12 pm PT

Vinamilk is the fourth largest listed company in Vietnam. Photo by Reuters/Kham.

Two major Singapore firms have repeatedly been trying to increase their stakes in Vietnamese dairy giant Vinamilk.

F&N Dairy Investments, a subsidiary of Singapore-based food and beverage company Fraser & Neave Ltd (F&N), recently registered to buy a 1 percent stake between July 10 and August 8. It is the second largest shareholder in Vinamilk, the country's biggest dairy firm, with a 17.31 percent stake.

Platinum Victory, a unit of Singapore-listed investment firm Jardine Cycle & Carriage (JC&C) Ltd, has also registered to buy a 1 percent stake between July 4 and August 2. It is the third largest shareholder in Vinamilk with a 10.62 percent stake.

Since the beginning of last year both companies have been making attempts to increase their stake in Vinamilk by 1 percent each, but not succeeding due to "unfavorable market conditions." Every time they failed they registered again to buy.

Vinamilk’s share is being traded on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE) at around VND124,100 ($5.33), giving it a market cap of VND216 trillion ($9.27 billion).

It is the fourth largest listed company on HOSE behind conglomerate Vingroup, its residential property unit Vinhomes and state-owned Vietcombank.

In the first quarter Vinamilk's revenue roses 9 percent year-on-year to VND13.23 trillion ($567.89 million) while after-tax profit climbed 2.7 percent to VND2.78 trillion ($119.33 million).

The Vietnamese local dairy market is expected to reach $8.2 billion in 2020 as the country’s population, personal income, and dairy consumption increases, according to a report by the EU-Vietnam Business Network.