Vietnam’s leading automotive manufacturer, Thaco Group, and its billionaire chairman, Tran Ba Duong, have divested all their shares in pangasius company Hung Vuong Joint Stock Corp. The name of the buyers were not available, according to reports from local media in Vietnam.
The withdrawal marks an end to Thaco’s efforts to rescue the pangasius producer, which was once the largest pangasius exporter in Vietnam but has been struggling with losses and debts for several years.
Under a strategic cooperation agreement signed in January last year, Thaco and its stakeholders bought a 35 percent stake in Hung Vuong to help shake up the seafood company’s businesses.
In February 2020, Hung Vuong announced in its stakeholders’ annual meeting it aimed to earn a net profit of VND 350 billion (USD 15.2 million, EUR 12.8 million) through the production and sale of 59,000 metric tons (MT) of pangasius, 3,000 MT of shrimp, and 500,000 MT of aquafeed in 2020.
However, Hung Vuong has not released any information about its business operations since then. The seafood company also has not released its financial statements for five quarters in a row. And due to its violations of government requirements for financial disclosure, Hung Vuong shares were delisted on Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange in August 2020. The trading of its shares was also being restricted by its next bourse, the Hanoi Stock Exchange, the same month.
Previously dubbed the “king of pangasius," Hung Vuong was the largest pangasius company in Vietnam in 2008 and 2009. Its business performance improved through 2014 before declining in subsequent years. Mounting financial pressure on the firm forced it to sell many of its assets, including stakes in other seafood firms and non-core businesses.
On 28 February, 2020, Hung Vuong said its audited financial year ending on 30 September, 2019, saw revenue decline 49.3 percent to VND 4.1 trillion (USD 178.2 million, EUR 150 million). Its accumulated loss as of 30 September, 2019, was VND 1.07 trillion (USD 46.5 million, EUR 39.2 million), down from a net profit of VND 104 billion (USD 4.5 million, EUR 3.8 million) year-on-year.
Hung Vuong’s total debts as of 30 September, 2019, were VND 7.11 trillion (USD 309.1 million, EUR 260.2 million).
Photo courtesy of Thaco Group
