Vietnam's shrimp giant Minh Phu Seafood Corp. has not inked any deal to sell a stake to any interested investor, though talks are underway with various interested parties, company chairman and CEO Le Van Quang told SeafoodSource on Friday, 15 February.
Quang made the statement after local media – and some seafood media – reported on 13 February reported that Japan’s Mitsui & Co. had already invested USD 100 million (EUR 88.69 million) in Minh Phu to help improve its shrimp exports.
Quang declined to give a timetable for when negotiations are expected to be completed.
Mitsui and four other foreign investors have been shortlisted by Minh Phu as potential partners. The list was finalized in a shareholders’ extraordinary general meeting that concluded on 29 January, Minh Phu said in a statement the same day.
The four other potential buyers included two from Japan, one from the United States, and one from South Korea.
Each of the five investors will be allowed to buy part or all the 75.72 million shares that Minh Phu will issue, subject to approval from Minh Phu’s board of directors.
Quang was authorized at the shareholders’ meeting to negotiate with potential buyers and decide on final share purchase prices. The proceeds from the share issuance will be used to strengthen the company’s financial position and add more capital for production and business activities. Shares of Minh Phu were trading at VND 47,500 (USD 2.04, EUR 1.81) per share on the Vietnam’s Unlisted Public Company Market on Friday morning, 15 February.
In a shareholders’ extraordinary general meeting in November last year, Minh Phu had approved plans to build a breaded shrimp processing plant in Vietnam and two cold storage facilities in the U.S.
Minh Phu produced 67,646 metric tons (MT) of shrimp in 2018, up 19.5 percent from 2017, pulling in USD 750.7 million (EUR 661.3 million) in export value, an increase of seven percent year-on-year. The company targets a production total of 77,400 MT of shrimp this year, up 14.4 percent year-on-year. It aims to earn revenues of USD 850 million (EUR 748.8 million) from shrimp exports in 2019, up 13.2 percent from last year, according to Minh Phu.
Minh Phu expects high-tech shrimp farming to keep expanding in Vietnam this year, providing to the global markets with high-quality products with competitive prices, according to Quang. He said the company will expand high-tech farming in 500 ponds in its two extensive farming areas in Loc An and Kien Giang in Vietnam’s south.
