SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s third-largest conglomerate, SK Group, said on Tuesday it has agreed to acquire a 16.3% stake in Vietnam’s VinCommerce, a retail affiliate of Masan Group, for $410 million.
SK Inc, formerly SK Holdings Co Ltd, as well as battery maker SK Innovation, SK Telecom, world’s second-largest memory chip maker SK Hynix and power generation firm SK E&S are participating in the deal through an investment unit focused on Southeast Asia.
VinCommerce operates about 2,300 convenience stores and supermarkets in Vietnam, with a roughly 50% market share in the country’s consumer retail sector, SK said.
SK plans to accelerate other investments in major strategic interests such as online and offline distribution, logistics, and electronic payment in Vietnam by utilizing its strategic partnership with Masan Group, it said.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
