Vietnam’s largest shrimp company, Minh Phu Seafood Corp., plans to sign agreements to sell its stake to foreign partners by early April this year, company’s chairman and CEO Le Van Quang told SeafoodSource on Friday, 22 February.
“We aim to conclude the stake sales within March or no later than the first week of April,” Quang said in an interview in Ho Chi Minh City.
The negotiations take time because the interested buyers are big companies in the world and they have to look at terms of the agreements very carefully.
Minh Phu may sell its stake to one or more investors depending on the ongoing talks, Quang said, declining to provide any names.
Japan’s Mitsui and four other foreign investors have been shortlisted for acquiring stake in Minh Phu. 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.
Chairman Quang was authorized by the shareholders’ meeting to negotiate with the buyers and decide on final 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.
Minh Phu’s share was traded at VND 47,100 (USD 2.03, EUR 1.79) per share on the Vietnam’s Unlisted Public Company Market.
Part of the money gained from the stake sale will be used to invest in shrimp farming and processing expansion, Quang said.
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 United States.
The progress of these projects will be discussed in details after the stake sales are concluded, according to Quang.
