Korea SK Group sells 76 mln shares of Vietnam’s Masan, no longer major shareholder

South Korea’s chaebol SK Group has sold 76.28 million shares of Vietnam’s conglomerate Masan, lowering its ownership in Masan to 3.67% of the charter capital and 3.86% of the voting shares.

As such, SK Group is no longer a major stakeholder in the Vietnamese company.

Masan, listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE), announced the transaction on Friday. Prior to the put-through transaction made on Thursday, SK Group had held 131.9 million MSN shares, equivalent to 8.72% of the charter capital and 9.17% of the voting shares. The buyers of the shares remain unknown.

After the move, SK Group holds 55.5 million MSN shares. The remaining shares held by SK Group are subject to a customary lock-up period, supporting the stability of MSN’s shareholder structure as the Vietnamese conglomerate advances its growth and strategic initiatives, according to MSN’s Friday statement.

MSN recorded a post-tax profit of VND701 billion ($27.72 million) in the third quarter of this year, a 15-fold year-on-year increase, thanks to strong profitability momentum across consumer-retail activities and lower debt-incurring net financial expenses.

For the first nine months of this year, MSN made a post-tax profit of VND1,308 billion ($51.7 million), or 30.8% above the full-year target.

In September, SK Group said it would sell a 7.1% stake in WinCommerce, a leading retailer in Vietnam with the WinMart brand, to the latter's majority shareholder Masan Group for $200 million.

In 2018, SK Group invested $450 million in Masan Group. In 2019, Masan purchased the VinCommerce retail chain from Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup and reformed it to WinCommerce. In 2021, SK Group, via a subsidiary, purchased a 16.3% stake in WinCommerce.