Dragon Capital raises holding in Vietnam retailer Mobile World to 8%

Dragon Capital, among the biggest foreign-run fund management companies in Vietnam, has lifted its holding in Mobile World Investment Corporation, one of the largest omni-channel electronics retailers in the country, to above 8%.

Funds affiliated to Dragon Capital bought a combined 940,000 shares in Mobile World Investment Corporation, listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange as MWG, earlier this week, raising their ownership to 117.18 million shares, or 8.01%, from the earlier 7.95%.

On May 3, this group of shareholders bought nearly 8 million MWG shares to increase their holding to 7.458% from the previous 6.91%. They also had purchased another 4.7 million shares on April 23, spending some VND1.2 trillion ($47.2 million) on the transactions.

With the latest transaction by Dragon Capital-affiliated funds, the foreign ownership in MWG is approaching the regulatory 49% ceiling.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Duc Tai, chairman of MWG’s board of directors, has registered to sell 2 million shares in the company within one month starting June 7. If successful, Tai will cut his holding to 33.4 million shares, or 2.29%.

MWG shares ended Friday up 0.32% at VND62,100 ($2.44), up 45% year-to-date.

The stock rally has been driven by an improved performance at the retailer. In the first four months this year, the company’s revenue rose 16.8% year-on-year to VND43 trillion ($1.69 billion), meeting 34% of the whole-year plan. The profit figure was not revealed.

In Q1, the firm earned a net profit of VND902 billion ($35.5 million), 43 times the same period last year and marking the highest figure since Q3/2022.

Besides MWG, Dragon Capital on June 3 bought 30,000 shares in FPT Digital Retail JSC (HoSE: FRT), another major retailer of electronic devices, raising its holding in the latter to 13.63 million shares, or a 10% stake.