Korea Investment PE to pour $200 million into Masan Group

Korea Investment PE is taking a 2-3 per cent stake in Masan Group via a rights offering

Korea Investment PE has recently decided to participate in the Vietnamese group's rights issues in a third-party placement and take a 2-3 per cent stake, as reported by The Korea Economic Daily.

It was not immediately known how much Masan Group is raising in total in the latest funding round. The unit of Korea Investment Holdings Co. will tap its blind pool fund to finance a portion of the stake purchase and raise the remainder through a project fund, the newswire added.

Korea Investment PE will be the latest South Korean shareholders of Masan Group along with the National Pension Service (NPS), SK Group, and Seoul-based IMM Investment Corporation. The deal will also mark Korea Investment PE's second investment in Vietnam after injecting $300 million into Vingroup in collaboration with IMM in 2019.

In 2019, Masan Group purchased a 83.7 per cent stake in Vingroup's retail division VinCommerce and then sold a 16.3 per cent stake in the retailer to SK Group for $410 million in April this year. Currently, SK Group is holding a 29.2 per cent stake in VinCommerce.

In May, a consortium led by Alibaba Group (Alibaba) and Baring Private Equity Asia (BPEA) has poured $400 million into The CrownX (TCX), which consolidates Masan Group’s interests in Masan Consumer Holdings and VinCommerce.

At that time, Masan also announced that it was in advanced discussions regarding a further strategic investment of $300-400 million into The CrownX from other investors, expected to close in 2021. In these transactions, Masan still holds the controlling stake. Masan made constant efforts to raise capital from international investors in a bid to change the façade of its modern retail platform, thereby contributing to the development of the local retail market.