Agri major HAGL erases list of three potential buyers of 130 million shares 

Agricultural giant Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) on Friday scrapped the list of three investors planning to buy its 130 million shares it had announced one day earlier, citing "reporting errors" as the reason.

The trio are LPBank Securities, Vietnam Fortune Fund Management JSC (QuyVietCat), and a professional individual investor named Nguyen Duc Tung Quan.

The HAGL board of directors said it will adjust information on the list of expected investors and complete registration documents for a private placement of shares to submit to the State Securities Commission for approval in November or December this year.

On Thursday evening, HAGL, listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) as HAG, announced a plan to offer 130 million shares via private placement at a price of VND10,000 ($4.1) each. Accordingly, LPBank Securities will buy 50 million shares, equivalent to 4.73%; QuyVietCat 60 million, or 5.67%; and Nguyen Duc Tung Quan 20 million, or 1.89%.

Immediately after the announcement, HAG increased for three consecutive sessions to VND10,400 ($0.43) per share, marking the first time the stock’s price exceeded VND10,000 in more than a year. Compared to the end of September, HAG has gained 40%.

In September last year, HAG had planned to sell 162 million shares for VND10,500 each to raise VND1.7 trillion ($70 million), but was unsuccessful as unfavorable market developments caused investors to back out.

In the third quarter of 2023, HAGL recorded revenue of VND1.89 trillion ($77.86 million), an increase of 31.1% over the same period last year and after-tax profit of VND324.5 billion ($13.37 million), down 12.2%.

In the first nine months, the group posted VND5 trillion ($206 million) in revenue, up 45% year-on-year and VND710 billion ($29.25 million) in after-tax profit, a decrease of 20.5%.

This year, HAGL targets net revenue of VND5.12 trillion ($210.9 million) and after-tax profit of VND1.13 trillion ($46.55 million).

In the stock market, HAG closed Friday at VND10,400 ($0.43) per share.