Masan raises foreign ownership limit to 100 per cent

Masan raises foreign ownership limit to 100 per cent

The current foreign ownership rate of Masan Group has been 48.4 per cent since the beginning of 2017. As of the end of 2020, Masan Group has 8,822 shareholders. Among them, there are 7,787 local shareholders owning 780 million shares or 66.41 per cent. There are also 1,035 foreign shareholders owning 395 million shares or equaling 33.59 per cent.

The largest foreign institutional shareholder is SK Investment Vina I Pte. Ltd. which holds 109.9 million shares. Another foreign shareholder is Ardolis Investment under the Singapore Government Fund (GIC), holding 8.93 per cent, according to the group's 2020 annual report.

In the first quarter, Masan Group posted VND20 trillion ($869.57 million) in revenue and VND343 billion ($14.9 million) in net profit.

With the removal of the foreign ownership limit, Masan can attract more foreign investors to its businesses. Today, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and partners have invested $400 million in the retail and consumer unit of Masan Group.

In April, SK Group paid $410 million for a 16.3 per cent stake in VinCommerce to Masan Group. SK Group has held a 9.5 per cent stake in Masan since 2018. Last year, Ardolis Investment also raised its ownership in consumer staple firm Masan Group Corporation (HSX: MSN) from 5.67 to 8.93 per cent.

Bloomberg on May 13 reported that Masan is mulling selling shares to its strategic partners to call for a $1 billion investment in the animal feed company Masan MEATLife. The newswire stated that Masan has been working with its investment consultants to discover plans to introduce the animal feed segment, which will be under the management of its subsidiary.

Despite the impact of the global health crisis, Masan Group’s 2020 revenue more than doubled over the previous year. In 2021, Masan Group expects revenues to rise 20-40 per cent driven by the growth of The CrownX, which consolidates Masan’s interest in Vincommerce and Masan Consumer Holdings.

At the same time, it plans for its meat business to reach 20-40 per cent of Masan MEATLife’s net revenue, as well as Masan High-Tech Materials to turn around as a result of the H.C. Starck and Mitsubishi partnership, supported by an upswing in commodity prices.