14TH NATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF VIETNAM

S.Korea’s SK Group sets up US$860-million investment fund in Vietnam

Ngoc Thuy

Dec 19, 2019 / 10:47 AM

Both SK Group and South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) would contribute US$430 million to the fund.

South Korea’s conglomerate SK Group along with the National Pension Service (NPS) has launched a US$860-million fund to invest in Vietnamese companies, through which the South Korean conglomerate could ramp up investment in Vietnam’s two biggest companies – Vingroup and Masan Group, the Korean Investors reported.

Illustrative photo.

For the corporate partnership (COPA) fund, NPS and SK will contribute US$430 million, respectively. It will be managed by South Korea’s SKS Private Equity and Stonebridge Capital, according to investment banking sources on December 18.

The NPS-SK fund comes after SK Group invested US$1 billion to buy a 6.1% stake in Vietnam’s biggest company Vingroup in May, thus becoming the latter’s strategic investor.

Last September, SK Group invested US$470 million to purchase 110 million treasury shares of Vietnam’s Masan Group Corporation, equivalent to a 9.5% stake, becoming Masan’s largest foreign shareholder.

Moreover, SK Group has provided a non-refundable grant worth US$30 million to facilitate the development of the National Innovation Center (NIC) in Vietnam.

Alongside the investments, SK Group received an option to co-invest in new businesses with the Vietnamese companies and priority rights to make an equity investment for their M&A deals and to buy a stake in units of the Vietnamese groups when they are floated on the stock market.

In a meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in June, SK Group’s Chairman Chey Tae-won said the group is committed to long-term business in Vietnam and willing to support the country’s initiatives for development in the future.

South Korea’s SK Group targets leading role in Vietnam’s environmental industry

06 Jun, 12:10

A healthy growth of such industry would help rebalance Vietnam’s economic structure, especially as the country expects to take advantage of the Fourth Industrial Revolution for further development.

S. Korea SK Group invests US$1 billion in Vingroup

16 May, 19:08

SK Group registered to purchase Vingroup’s 154.3 million shares through private placement and others 51.4 million shares from Vingroup’s retail arm VinCommerce.

South Korea’s SK Group plans to expand investment operations in Vietnam

09 Nov, 10:46

The group wants to invest in Vietnamese private corporations and state-owned enterprises subject to privatization, while considering plan to build a national innovation center in Vietnam, the government portal reported.

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