Jardine Cycle & Carriage spent US$400 million on purchasing 36 million additional shares of Vinamilk

The deal follows JC&C’s previous acquisition of 5.53 percent stake in Vinamilk for $616.6 million, through the open market and an auction by the State Capital Investment Commission of Vietnam (SCIC), the controlling state shareholder at Vinamilk.

JC&C’s unit Platinum Victory bought the additional shares via on-market purchases, the company said in a filing to the Singapore bourse.

To date, JC&C has become the second largest overseas investor in Vinamilk, holding an 8.9 per cent stake, after ThaiBev’s unit Fraser&Neave which is an 18 per cent shareholder.

“The taking of this relevant interest in Vinamilk is in line with the JC&C strategy of investing in market-leading companies in Southeast Asia. In particular, it increases JC&C’s exposure to the Vietnamese economy and consideration will be given to make further such investments,” the Singaporean investor said in a statement.

JC&C is a subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based Jardine Matheson, of which its main business segments are real estate, automotive, hotel, retail, financial services, agriculture…

Jardine Matheson has been present in Vietnam through its 32 per cent holding in the country’s largest automotive firm Truong Hai Auto as well as a 22.9 per cent ownership in listed Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corporation (REE).

In the field of real estate, this group owns two office buildings in Hanoi. The first building is at 63 Ly Thai To that is opposite to the Opera House and the second one is the Central Building at the intersection of Hai Ba Trung and Ba Trieu Street.

Its member company, Jardine Restaurant Group, is also the franchisor of the Pizza Hut franchise in Vietnam and holds a 25% stake in KFC Vietnam. Coffee Concepts, another subsidiary of this group, has franchised Starbucks Coffee in Vietnam.