Masan’s acquisition of VinCommerce, VinEco tops M&A deals in Vietnam in 2009-2023

Retail giant Masan Group’s acquisition of the VinCommerce and VinEco chains from Vingroup topped the list of outstanding Vietnamese acquisitions from 2009-2023 announced at the recent Vietnam M&A Forum 2023.

The deal is meant to "redraw" the Vietnamese retail market, retaining market share for Vietnamese retailers.

Retaining retail market for Vietnamese brands

Vietnam is considered one of the most vibrant and notable consumer markets in Asia, thanks to its fast-growing economy, expanding middle class and accelerating urbanization. Therefore, the Vietnamese market is considered a fertile land for foreign retailers. In recent years, foreign retail groups have spent a lot of money to own a series of leading businesses in Vietnam. This trend has not stopped as many domestic businesses are facing unprecedented difficulties and challenges.

In December 2020, Vietnam's M&A market was shocked by the news that Masan Group had acquired the VinCommerce retail system (currently WinCommerce) from Vingroup and officially takken over the VinMart and VinMart+ chains (now WinMart and WinMart+). Although the specific value of the deal was not disclosed, analysts believed that it must be a "huge" number.

A Masan leader once said that it took them only a month to reach this deal. He noted that Masan cooperated with Vingroup for “retaining the retail market for a Vietnamese brand".

By opening WinCommerce, Masan possesses the capacity to produce branded consumer goods, and expands its already sound distribution system. It also becomes the first and only consumer and retail group in Vietnam with a model similar to that of a few leading multi-channel consumer and retail groups in the world such as Walmart.

Changing the look of Vietnam's leading retail chain

Four years after the M&A deal, the number of WinCommerce points of sale has increased from 3,020 in December 2019 to more than 3,600 WinMart/WinMart+/WIN supermarkets and stores, serving about 32 million customers across the country each month.

In addition to increasing the number of points of sale, WinCommerce has also diversified its retail model to match the population characteristics and shopping habits of each region such as WinMart Premium, WinMart Urban and WIN in urban areas, meeting the shopping needs and price preferences of many customer segments.

In particular, WIN is a multi-convenience store model that has been in operation since September 2022, bringing a new experience to customers when meeting all daily needs, while at the same time including necessities (WinMart+), financial services (Techcombank), telecommunications services (WinTel), and beauty care (Hi!Beauty) with many reputable cosmetic brands. As of November 30, 2023, the number of WIN stores had reached 385 nationwide.

In addition, at the beginning of 2023, Masan launched the WIN membership program nationwide, which offers a 20% discount on WinEco clean vegetable products and MEATDeli clean meat products throughout the year, along with many other attractive exclusive offers.

The program has attracted a lot of consumer attention, hitting more than 7.6 million members by the end of November 2023. Masan's leadership aims to increase the number of WIN members from both offline and online channels to 30-50 million by 2025.

Turning WinCommerce into profitable retail chain

With many efforts in innovating operations, improving product and service quality and implementing the "good price" strategy with a variety of products, WinCommerce has seen many positive changes in its business results, from a loss of more than $100 million when it was transferred to Masan.

According to its Q3/2023 financial statement, 70% of WinCommerce's mini supermarkets recorded an after-tax profit margin of 2.2%, marking the second consecutive quarter of positive after-tax profit. It achieved stable EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) growth, with a margin of 2.9%, up from 2.2% in the second quarter and 1% in the first quarter.

With the push from growth strategies, WinCommerce reached break-even EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) margin in the third quarter and is on track to reap profits in the near future, the first time after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Masan's board of directors believed that WinCommerce is on the path to the break-even after-tax profit point of the entire network in 2024 thanks to effective growth strategies.

Thanks to its effective M&A strategies and activities, Masan Group was honored as a business with an outstanding M&A strategy during 2009-2023 at the Vietnam M&A Forum 2023. A series of Masan’s other M&A deals were also honored at the event.

Top 10 outstanding deals of Vietnamese businesses acquiring foreign businesses in the 2009-2023 period

- Masan’s acquisition of Nui Phao project (2010)

- Acquisition of the vonfram business platform of H.C Starck Group GmbH by Vonfram Masan, a subsidiary of Masan High-Tech Materials (2020)

- Masan’s acquisition of a 15% stake in Nyobolt Limited (2022)

Top 10 outstanding deals of Vietnamese businesses acquiring Vietnamese businesses in the 2009-2023 period

- Masan’s acquisition of VinCommerce and VinEco of Vingroup (2019)

- Masan’s acquisition of a 85% stake in Phuc Long (2022)

- Masan Consumer's (a subsidiary of Masan) acquisition of VinaCafe Bien Hoa (2011)