Vissan to trade on UPCom

Founded in 1970, Vissan is among the country’s leading producers and exporters of fresh meat, poultry and processed food. It possesses many advantages from a distribution network covering about 130,000 markets and more than 1,000 supermarkets and convenience stores.

On March 7 its initial public offering (IPO) was held with a total of 11.32 million shares for sale, equal to 14% of its charter capital and with an initial price of VND17,000 (US$0.76).

The IPO caught much attention, attracting 142 investors with purchase registrations totaling 63.6 million, or six times higher than the amount of shares available. The highest bidding price was VND102, 000 (US$4.57).

All 11.32 million shares were sold to five investors at an average price of more than VND80,000 (US$3.58) per share, earning Vissan VND907 billion (US$40.66 million).

On March 24 Vissan also held an auction for 11.32 million shares, or 14% of its charter capital, for strategic shareholders: the Agriculture International Company (Anco), the Producing Animal Feeds JV Co. (Proconco), and South Korea’s CJ CheilJedang Company (CJ).

CJ offered to buy the shares for VND120,600 (US$5.4) each while Proconco offered VND125,000 (US$5.59). Anco, though, went even higher, to VND126,000 (US$5.64), and secured the purchase. Vissan acquired VND1.427 trillion (US$63.91 million) from the auction.

Though Anco won the auction, the Masan Group picked up 53% of Proconco and 70% of Anco in April last year after buying 99.99% of the Sam Kim Co., which had these shareholdings.

In July Vissan officially became a joint stock company with charter capital of more than VND809 billion (US$36.2 million), which has remained the same since equitization. There are currently some 11.39 million shares of Vissan that cannot be sold under equitization rules, owned by strategic shareholder and the company’s labor union.

As at August 25 Vissan has 1,199 shareholders, with the two largest being Satra, holding 67.76%, and Anco, holding 24.94%. Satra is Vissan’s parent company.   

Vissan is the leading company in providing packaged sausages, holding a 65% share of the domestic market and its sausages are also exported to Laos and Cambodia. As at early March its products were available in 223 supermarkets, 703 convenience stores, 59 showrooms and a wide range of distributors and agents in Vietnam.

Masan is one of the largest private enterprises in Vietnam, with market capitalization of about US$2.5 billion, and owns many brands familiar among Vietnamese consumers, such as Chinsu sauce, Tam Thai Tu sauce, and Omachi noodles. Other foreign investors have poured capital into Masan previously, such as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) and Mount Kellett Capital Management.