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Apr 07, 2018 / 13:47

Japanese firm buys additional 50 million shares of Vinatex

Itochu Textile Prominent lifted its ownership in Vienam National Textile (Vinatex) from 3% to 13% after years as a stakeholder of the firm.

Specifically, the Hong Kong-based firm officially raised its stake in Vinatex to 13% with a purchase of 50 million shares since late March 2018, announced the Vietnam firm on April 5.
Itochu Textile Prominent ealier owned nearly 5% of Vinatex after the textile group conducted its IPO in 2014.
In the latest move, the Japanese firm bought additional 35 million shares (equivalent to 7% of Vinatex charter capital) from VNTex – the second-largest domestic stakeholder of Vinatex while made some other transactions on Unlisted Public Company (UPCoM) market.
Illustrative photo
As such, with 65 million shares acquired totally, Itochu Textile Prominent becomes the largest foreign stakeholder of Vinatex.
Following the deal, the Ministry of Trade remains the largest stakeholder of Vinatex, followed by VNTex (7%) and real estate giant Vingroup (10%).
Currently, Vinatex operates some 200 sewing factories in Vietnam. It has invested nearly US$200 million to develop facilities for thread and cloth production over the past three years. The company now handles almost everything from material production to sewing.
Itochu Textile Prominent, a subsidiary of Itochu Group has become a long standing strategic partner of Vinatex since its initial public offering in 2014.
In 2017, Itochu and Vinatex inked a contract to develop a supply chain ranging from fibre and thread to cloth and retail.
Earlier in 2015, Itochu cooperated with Doximex, Vinatex’s subsidiary operating in dyeing and accessories. The deal is expected to boost the production of high-performance apparel in Vietnam and export output to Japan, Europe and the United States. The Japanese trading house may also collaborate with Vinatex to produce sportswear.
Itochu exports apparel from Vietnam worth some Y60 billion (US$567 million) per year, half of which is produced by Vinatex. The company aims to raise outsourced production and exports to Yen100 billion by 2021.
Meanwhile, Vinatex's net revenue in 2017 is estimated at VND17.5 trillion (US$766 million), an increase of 13.2% over the last year, according to the company's recent consolidated financial statement. The firm's net profit reached VND634 billion (US$27 million), up 9.5% year-on-year, following the company's net revenue in the fourth quarter of 2017 of VND4.4 trillion (US$192 million), a slight increase of 0.7% compared to the same period of 2016.
In 2017, Vinatex recorded export value of over US$3 billion, increasing 10% over 2016, stated in the company's meeting reviewing its business result in 2017 and plans for 2018 on January 3.
The company set target of reaching VND48.5 trillion (US$2.1 billion) in revenue for 2018 and pre-tax profit of VND1.45 trillion (US$63 million), increasing 6.5% and 1.1% compared to 2017, respectively.