Singapore's Platinum Victory plans to spend $13 mln to buy shares of Vietnam's REE at premiums

Singaporean fund Platinum Victory Pte. Ltd. has unveiled a plan to spend some $320 million ($12.74 million) on buying 4 million shares of Ho Chi Minh City-based utility firm Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corporation at premiums.

According to a Tuesday announcement by the company, listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange as REE, the fund has registered to publicly buy the shares at VND80,000 ($3.2) each, 18% higher than the market price at Tuesday's close.

REE shares closed up 1.8% at VND69,000 ($2.75) each on Wednesday.

If successful, Platinum Victory will increase its holding in REE to 168.16 million shares, or a 35.7% stake from the current 34.85%.

Platinum Victory will abandon the purchase plan at any time if it breaches the foreign ownership limit in REE, which stands at 49%, noted the annoucement. As of August 14, foreign holding in REE already reached the ceiling.

Platinum Victory is now the largest shareholder in REE. Other major shareholders include Nguyen Ngoc Hai (5.5%), HCMC Finance and Investment State-owned Company (5.3%), and Apollo Asia Fund (5%), according to data from Saigon Securities Inc.

The Singaporean fund had registered to buy 300,000 REE shares between June 12 and July 13, but did not succeed. It has failed several times to acquire more REE shares.

REE earned a consolidated net profit of VND835.2 billion ($33.25 million) on revenue of VND4,019 billion in H1/2024, down 32.3% and 11.5% year-on-year, respectively, according to its quarterly financial statement.

The decrease in H1 profit was attributed to weaker performance in REE's hydropower businesses, caused by the El Niño phenomenon.