Singapore-based fund sells 2.4 mln shares in retail major Mobile World

Arisaig Asian Fund Limited, a member fund of Arisaig Partners (Singapore), sold nearly 2.4 million MWG shares in Vietnamese retail giant Mobile World Investment Corp. on April 11 for the purpose of investment restructuring.

The sale leaves Arisaig Asia Fund Limited holding 100.46 million units in MWG, equivalent to 6.87% from the previous 7.03%. Calculated according to the closing price on April 11 of VND40,700 ($1.73) per share, the deal earned an estimated VND97 billion ($4.12 million).

In early February, two other member funds of Arisaig Partners, Arisaig Global Emerging Markets Fund and Mercer Fund Public Limited Company, bought a total of more than 4 million MWG shares.

Despite the sale, the Arisaig Asian Fund still holds the most MWG shares out of all foreign funds.

Arisaig Partners was established in 1996 and specializes in investing in consumer goods and retail businesses on a scale of billions of dollars.

From 2020 - 2021, the Arisaig group was a net buyer of MWG shares through hand-to-hand transactions via the Vietnam Securities Depository (VSD) from groups including Pyn Elite Fund, NTasian Discovery Master Fund, Aberdeen fund group, and Coeli SICAV I - Frontier Markets Fund.

MWG's annual general meeting of shareholders on April 8 approved targets of VND135 trillion ($5.75 billion) in consolidated revenue and VND4.2 trillion ($178.8 million) in after-tax profit in 2023, slight increases from last year.

The targets were set in the context of the difficulties facing the market. In the first two months of this year, MWG recorded revenue of VND19 trillion ($810.34 million), down 25% compared to the same period last year.

The HCMC-based retail giant reported an after-tax profit of VND4.1 trillion ($174 million) in 2022, down 16% year-on-year, fulfilling 65% of its target. Net revenue hit VND133.41 trillion ($5.66 billion), up 8%, according to its consolidated financial report.

As of December 31, 2022, MWG's total assets stood at VND55.83 trillion ($2.37 billion), down 11% from the beginning of the year, of which inventory accounted for VND25.7 trillion ($1.09 billion), down 12%.

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, MWG closed the Wednesday session at VND40,500 ($1.72).