$250 million investment, including $150 million in Masan
Nutri-Science, to Accelerate Company Growth
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam & SINGAPORE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
Masan Group Corporation (HOSE:MSN, “Masan Group” and the
“Company”), today announced that KKR, a leading global investment firm,
has entered into definitive agreements to invest a total of US$250
million in Masan Group and in its branded meat platform, Masan
Nutri-Science (the “Transaction”). KKR’s investment is comprised of a
US$100 million purchase of secondary shares of Masan Group from PENM
Partners, an independent Danish private equity company, and a US$150
million primary investment in Masan Nutri-Science for a 7.5% stake. This
is KKR’s second investment in Masan; KKR previously invested US$359
million in Masan Consumer.
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Mr. Ming Lu, Member of KKR and Head of Asia Private Equity said, “Masan
Group is a world-class partner in Vietnam. We admire and respect their
capabilities to strategically transform businesses by driving change to
serve 90 million consumers with quality and affordable daily products.
We have witnessed them develop a seasonings company into a US$2 billion
diversified consumer group and look forward to again backing Masan as
they execute their growth plans.”
Mr. Nguyen Dang Quang, Chairman of Masan Group, said, “At Masan, we
believe that value comes from serving the daily basic needs of 90
million Vietnamese consumers, allowing our people to pay less for
quality products and services. In a country where daily essentials such
as packaged food and beverage, fresh food (meat), and financial services
take up half of the average person’s wallet share, being able to deliver
value for money is meaningful to our people and society. With KKR’s
investment in Masan, we will be in a stronger position to deliver on our
commitment to Vietnamese consumers.”
Vietnam’s US$18 billion meat sector lacks productivity and is highly
fragmented (the market leader has less than 1% share), leading to
consumers paying more for less. Masan believes that addressing this
large unmet need requires increasing productivity across the entire
animal protein value chain. In 2016, Masan completed its integrated
(“feed-farm-food”) branded meat platform by cementing its leading
position in the animal feed business, entering into pig farming and
becoming VISSAN’s strategic partner. KKR’s global network and team —
which includes significant agricultural experience — will support Masan
Nutri-Science as it accelerates its execution strategy to deliver on its
vision to become the first integrated consumer meat platform in Vietnam.
“This investment underscores our commitment to Vietnam in particular and
to ASEAN generally,” said Ashish Shastry, Member of KKR and Head of KKR
Southeast Asia. “Vietnam holds great opportunity with its growing
economy and favorable demographic trends. KKR is committed to investing
in the market by partnering with leading companies such as Masan
Nutri-Science.”
As Masan Nutri-Science moves into its next stage of transformation, Mr.
Danny Le, Head of Business Development of Masan Group, will step down as
Chief Executive Officer of Masan Nutri-Science and be responsible for
strategy as Vice Chairman. Mr. Pham Trung Lam will lead Masan
Nutri-Science as Chief Executive Officer to build the company into a
leading branded meat business. Mr. Pham was previously Head of Sales at
Masan Consumer, where he was instrumental in building Masan’s national
distribution network to reach 250,000 point of sales, the highest for a
food and beverage company in Vietnam. As a result, today, the company
estimates that 98% of Vietnamese families have at least one Masan
product in their homes. He is supported at Masan Nutri-Science by a
unique mix of animal protein and FMCG experts that are passionate about
enabling Vietnamese consumers to enjoy delicious, affordable, and safe
meat with their meals.
Mr. Pham Phu Ngoc Trai, Chairman of Masan Nutri-Science, said, “Our team
at Masan Nutri-Science are not only professionals, but are entrepreneurs
who wants to transform the animal protein sector with innovation that
increases productivity and brands that consumers trust and love. We have
started in the feed, and I look forward to partnering with KKR to
complete our story with consumer meat products.”
Commenting on PENM’s US$100 million sale of Masan shares to KKR, Hans
Christian Jacobsen, Managing Partner of PENM, stated, “Since our first
investment nine years ago, we have had the pleasure of witnessing
Masan’s transformation from a small seasonings company into one of the
largest and fastest growing consumer-focused businesses in Vietnam.
Masan has been PENM’s most successful investment in Vietnam and we look
forward to continue partnering with them through our other funds and
serving on their Board of Directors.”
KKR invests from its Asian Fund II. The transaction is subject to
customary corporate and regulatory approvals.
ABOUT MASAN GROUP CORPORATION
Masan Group Corporation (“Masan” and the “Company”) believes in doing
well by doing good. The Company’s mission is to provide better products
and services to the 90 million people of Vietnam, so that they can pay
less for their daily basic needs. Masan aims to achieve this by driving
productivity with technological innovations, trusted brands, and
focusing on fewer but bigger opportunities that impact the most lives.
Masan Group’s member companies and associates are industry leaders in
meat, packaged food and beverage, resources, and financial services,
altogether representing segments of Vietnam’s economy that are
experiencing the most transformational growth.
ABOUT MASAN NUTRI-SCIENCE
Masan Nutri-Science, a subsidiary of Masan Group, is Vietnam’s largest
fully-integrated (“feed-farm-food” business model) branded meat
platform, focused on driving productivity in Vietnam’s animal protein
industry and ultimately directly serving consumers with traceable,
quality and affordable meat products, a US$18 billion opportunity.
In 2016, Masan Nutri-Science sold over 2.5 million tons of animal feed
through its national network of over 4,500 dealers and 13 feed
facilities, generating approximately US$1.1 billion in sales. Growth was
driven by animal feed brand “Bio-zeem” and integration and turnaround of
Proconco and ANCO by implementing an FMCG approach to an agricultural
business. In the same year, Masan Nutri-Science completed its
feed-farm-food (3F) model with the groundbreaking of a scale and
high-technology pig farm in Nghe An and becoming a strategic partner of
VISSAN, Vietnam’s largest meat company.
ABOUT KKR
KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages investments across
multiple asset classes including private equity, energy, infrastructure,
real estate, credit and hedge funds. KKR aims to generate attractive
investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment
approach, employing world-class people, and driving growth and value
creation at the asset level. KKR invests its own capital alongside its
partners’ capital and brings opportunities to others through its capital
markets business. References to KKR’s investments may include the
activities of its sponsored funds. For additional information about KKR
& Co. L.P. (NYSE:KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and
on Twitter @KKR_Co.
ABOUT PENM PARTNERS
PENM Partners is an independent Danish private equity company. PENM
Partners offers equity capital and strategic partnership to unlisted
Vietnamese companies under the name Private Equity New Markets (PENM).
PENM Partners, through its four funds, manages USD550 million, and is
focused on unlisted companies with a proven track record and a strong
future development potential. The capital from PENM will typically be
applied towards expansion, growing the business through investments or
acquisitions.
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding
Masan’s expectations, intentions or strategies that may involve risks
and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements, including Masan’s
expectations, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
factors, some of which are beyond Masan’s control, which may cause
Masan’s actual results of operations, financial condition, performance
or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or
implied by the forward-looking statements. You should not rely upon
forward-looking statements as predictions, future events or promises of
future performance.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170402005118/en/
MASAN GROUP
(Investors/Analysts)
Tanveer Gill, +848
6256 3862
tanveer@msn.masangroup.com
or
(Media)
Van
Nguyen, +848 6256 3862
van.nguyen@msn.masangroup.com
or
KKR
Anita
Davis +852 3602-7335
anita.davis@kkr.com
or
Steven
Okun
media@kkr.com
Source: KKR & Co. L.P.