Kido to acquire 25% stake in food maker Tho Phat, invest more

Vietnamese leading food and cooking oil producer Kido Group will purchase a 25% stake in Tho Phat Food Processing Company, and continue to raise its ownership to the range of 51-70%, said Kido vice board chairman and CEO Tran Le Nguyen.

The M&A deal is Ho Chi Minh City-based Kido’s strategy for further development in leading Vietnam’s essential food sector and making some global expansion, he said, adding that the transaction of 25% is a result of a long period of negotiations.

Following the acquisition, the combined revenue and profit from Tho Phat and Kido's bakery segment are expected to reach VND2 trillion ($85.35 million) and VND200 billion ($8.54 million) respectively this year, according to Nguyen.

Ho Chi Minh City-based Tho Phat is a leader in making and supplying dumplings featuring more than 4,000 selling points via different distribution channels nationwide.

Tho Phat owns a 2.2-hectare production facility in Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park in the city's Nha Be district. The plant, with an annual capacity of 10,000 tons of products, is well-equipped with state-of-the-art automatic production machinery strictly managed based on product quality control programs HACCA Codex, ISO 22000 and ISO 45001.

Kido holds a 44.5% market share for ice cream in Vietnam, including 24.2% of the Merino and 19.2% of the Celano brand, according to Euromonitor - the world's leading provider of strategic market research reporting.

The food major also dominates Vietnam’s margarine segment with a 74.9% market share and ranks second in the cooking oil segment with a 30% market share.

Kido returned to the bakery market with its brand Kido’s Bakery in 2021. The group aims to develop Kido’s Bakery into the second-largest brand in Vietnam in the next three to five years.

Kido has advantages in governance, brand development, logistics, and a large distribution network with 45,000 dried food and 120,000 frozen food selling points across Vietnam.