Exclusive Mobile World is planning to sell its 1.5 billion dollar Vietnamese grocery business

SINGAPORE, Aug 24 (Reuters) – Vietnam Mobile World Investment Corp (MWG.HM) on Wednesday hired a consultant to look into the sale of the grocery chain to Bach Hoa Zhan, sources familiar with the matter said, valuing the business. More than 1.5 billion dollars.

In the year It will be the country’s second-largest deal, following the $4.8 billion acquisition of Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage Corp. by Vietnam’s F&B Alliance Investment Company in 2017, according to data from Refinitiv.

“We have selected a consultant and are working closely to prepare the necessary documents for the deal,” a Mobile World Investment Corp. spokesman said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

“The deal is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2023,” the spokesman said, citing confidentiality and did not comment on the valuation and other details.

The sale could attract interest from domestic and international retailers as well as financial investors, one of the sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity because the matter is confidential.

Mobile World Investments, co-founded and led by Vietnamese businessman Nguyen Duc Thai, joins growing companies and funds trying to sell their client investments and businesses in Southeast Asia as the region’s economy recovers from Covid-19 lockdowns.

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The $4.2 billion market cap Mobile World is investing in modernizing and automating Bach Hoa Zan’s back-end operations to reduce costs and increase profitability.

According to the Mobile World Investment website, the company has started a recruitment drive to hire more than 3,000 workers in Bach Hoa Zan.

Bach Hoa Xanh, launched in 2015, is a small chain focused on selling fresh food and daily basic needs, according to its website.

It now has more than 1,700 stores in Vietnam’s southern and south-central provinces and ranks among the country’s top three modern grocery retailers by revenue, according to the Mobile World Investment website.

In addition to Bach Hoa Zan, Mobile World Investments claims the largest mobile phone retail chain in Vietnam by market share, The Gioi Di Dong, and the country’s largest consumer electronics retail chain, Dien Mei Zan.

The group has a presence in Cambodia and Indonesia through its consumer electronics retail chain business, according to its website.

Second-quarter net income fell 6.8 percent year-on-year to 1.13 trillion Vietnamese dong ($48.15 million), while revenue rose 8.5 percent. The group’s shares have risen 28 percent in the past year.

($1 = 23,470.0000 dong)

Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore and Pung Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Kane Wu and Emelia Sithole-Matarise

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