THE DIFFERENT FATES OF ENTERPRISES AFTER M&A DEALS

There are many reasons behind the decisions by business owners to sell stakes to foreign investors.

Many of them made the decisions because they were on the verge of bankruptcy and hoped foreign capital would save them. Others issued additional stakes because they wanted to expand the business.

Consumer goods, food and household-use electric appliances were the business fields which saw highest numbers of M&A deals in 2009-2011.
Asia Vina, a fan manufacturer, Thuan Phat Food JSC and Diana JSC were among the best known deals with transaction value of between several millions dollars and hundreds of millions of dollars.

Some other affairs were less known and their value remain a secret, but analysts believed they also had high transaction values.

These include the transfer of 83 percent of stake in Con Heo Vang, the supplier of processed meat to airports, restaurants, hotels and resorts in HCM City and sea cities to Nippon Meat Packers, a subsidiary of the Japanese largest food processor Nippon Ham Group.

Asked about the stake transfer deal, Nguyen Huu Chung, the founder of Con Heo Vang, said the company met big difficulties in 2008-2011, affected by the global economic crisis.

Chung believes that the ‘marriage’ with Nippon Meat Packers was a good thing for Con Heo Vang, because the Japanese partner, with its great advantages, was expected to help Con Heo Vang grow.

After one year of cooperation, Con Heo Vang obtained high growth rate of 20 percent, while its market share has expanded step by step and more products have been available at retail chains.

Diana, after transferring 95 percent of its stakes to Japanese Unicharm at the price of $184 million in 2011, has gained tla growth rate of 8 times. Its turnover of VND1 trillion and profit of VND40 billion soared to VND3.9 trillion and VND800 billion, respectively, just three years after the stakes were transferred.

However, not all M&A deals could help Vietnamese businesses reap fruits.

In May 2011, when Asia Vina sold 65 percent of its stake to Groupe SEB, a ‘big guy’ which possesses 27 brands and has products sold in 150 countries, the company had 45 shops in its retail chain.

Meanwhile, the figure has reduced to 36 as updated on its official website quatvietnam.com.vn, though Asia Vina’s managers planned to expand the retail network from 45 shops to 100 in 2012.

According to IMF, Vietnam ranks 55th in the world in GDP, but ranks 20th in terms of M&A value.

Source: VNEP