This is considered a “win-win” deal in the current context, helping to maximize value for shareholders and also showing that the Korean giant believes in the profit prospects of billionaire Nguyen Dang Quang’s Masan Group.

On the morning of September 4, Masan Group Corporation (MSN) announced that SK Group of Korea and this group have agreed to extend the time to exercise SK Group's put option with Masan Group for a maximum of 5 years.

On June 24, Masan Group denied the information that the giant SK Group exercised the option to sell shares in this enterprise after the Korean Maeil Business Newspaper published an article mentioning that SK Group "exercised the option (right to sell shares) to sell 9% of its shares in Masan Group".

SK Group became a major shareholder of Masan in 2018 and holds the option to sell shares to MSN in 2024. At that time, the Korean giant spent 530 billion won (about 11,000 billion VND) to buy 9.5% of Masan Group's capital.

As part of the strategic investment, SK Group then also invested in WinCommerce (WCM) - the retail arm of Masan Group - with a 16.3% stake and in The CrownX - Masan's integrated retail consumer platform (merging WCM and Masan Consumer Holdings) with a 4.9% stake.

Specifically, in mid-November 2021, SK Group, through its subsidiary SK South East Asia Investment, acquired 16.3% of WinCommerce's shares for 460 billion won (410 million USD). After that, SK Group continued to invest 340 million USD to own 4.9% of The CrownX's shares. Masan holds 85% of The CrownX's shares.

The CrownX was established in 2019, on the basis of merging Masan's food and beverage segments with WinCommerce retail segment.

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Billionaire Nguyen Dang Quang. Photo: MSN

Thus, the Korean giant has invested a total of billions of dollars in billionaire Nguyen Dang Quang's Masan Group. This is also the largest investment by a chaebol in a Vietnamese enterprise, with the expectation of a breakthrough as a leading company in the consumer-retail sector in a market of 100 million people.

As one of the mainstays of the Vietnamese stock market, in the second quarter of 2024, Masan reported its highest profit in nearly two years despite being a low quarter. After-tax profit reached nearly VND950 billion, double that of the same period in 2023.

Masan's consumer retail business has recovered impressively. The group's net revenue in the second quarter reached more than VND20.1 trillion, up 8.2% year-on-year.

In June-July 2024, WinCommerce recorded positive net profit thanks to rapid revenue growth and successful expansion of new store models. This marks an important milestone in WCM's retail strategy by delivering sustainable profits.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong, General Director of WinCommerce, said that this is an opportunity for WinCommerce to significantly improve its profit margin in the third quarter and start contributing to the group's overall profit. In July, revenue from minimart stores increased by 4% compared to June. The numbers may be more positive during the busy year-end shopping season and the whole year.

Under the agreement, SK Group will transfer 7.1% of WinCommerce shares to Masan Group for $200 million. Increasing ownership in WCM will help MSN increase control and promote growth of core business activities in the long term.

WCM is the company that owns and operates the largest retail chain in Vietnam, with more than 130 WinMart supermarkets and more than 3,600 WinMart+/WiN mini supermarkets.

As part of the investment strategy, Masan will receive the right to purchase SK Group's remaining shares in WCM in the future at the original price SK invested. The transfer of a portion of its shares in WCM will help SK Group record profits while continuing its long-term investment in MSN with the extension of the put option.

This activity is part of Masan's regular portfolio restructuring plan.

SK Group is one of the leading family-owned economic groups in Korea, continuously investing in Vietnam not only in the fields of banking, finance, real estate, but also in other important industries such as fast-moving consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, etc. Vietnam's prospects and stability are considered factors attracting capital flows from Northeast Asia.

According to observers, Vietnam is witnessing the fourth wave of Korean investment in Vietnam, initially in textiles, then electronics and consumer retail, finance and fintech.

However, recently, foreign capital has shown signs of withdrawing from Vietnam. Since the beginning of the year, foreign investors have net sold nearly 3 billion USD worth of Vietnamese stocks. Since 2020, the net selling value has been much larger, erasing all previous achievements.

'SK sells shares in big Vietnamese corporations': What does Masan say? Billionaire Nguyen Dang Quang's Masan Group denies information that the giant SK Group has exercised its option to sell shares in this enterprise. The divestment of this chaebol in Vietnam is under negotiation.