(Bloomberg) -- A consortium led by GIC Pte has paid $500 million for a minority stake in a retail unit of Vingroup JSC, according to a statement from the Singapore sovereign wealth fund Monday.
Vingroup and VCM Services & Trading Development JSC have “established themselves as reputable retail companies with attractive brands in Vietnam's fast-growing consumer market,” GIC said in the statement. “As a long-term investor, GIC is confident in the growth outlook for disposable incomes and household consumption in Vietnam.”
VCM operates VinMart+ and VinMart outlet stores. There are more than 108 VinMart supermarkets and some 1,700 VinMart+ convenience stores across the country, according to the firm's website. Vietnam's economy is forecast to expand 6.7% this year, one of the fastest among Southeast Asian nations.
The 11.6 trillion dong investment was reported earlier by Bloomberg News. Stock in Ho Chi Minh-listed Vingroup rose as much as 1.4%, the biggest intraday increase in more than two weeks. The shares are up almost 30% since January.
Credit Suisse Group AG is the financial adviser to Vingroup, a person familiar with the matter said earlier. Vingroup will remain as the controlling shareholder of VCM post the transaction, according to Monday's statement.
To contact the reporters on this story: Nguyen Kieu Giang in Hanoi at giang1@bloomberg.net;Joyce Koh in Singapore at jkoh38@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: John Boudreau at jboudreau3@bloomberg.net, Katrina Nicholas
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