Korean-Vietnam sausage deal delayed

International and local media earlier reported the Korean food company was set to acquire 99.99% of Duc Viet Food, one of Vietnam’s leading meat processors, for US$32 million to make inroads into the Southeast Asian country’s meat processing market with its high growth potential.

"Daesang has not finished all necessary documents for the acquisition. The deal is unlikely to happen this month," a source familiar with the matter told Vietnam News.

"It’s not about the price," the source said.

Mai Huy Tan, the company’s owner, declined to comment, saying the deal is still under negotiation.

Established in 2001, Duc Viet Food is a small but well operated company with a charter capital of VND130 billion (nearly US$6 million). It is also the first enterprise trading and manufacturing German-style fresh sausages in Vietnam.

The sausage manufacturer was listed among the top 500 fastest growing companies in Vietnam in 2016. In 2015, the company earned US$26.5 million in revenues and US$1.7 million in net profit.

In a regulatory filing in June, Daesang said it decided to buy Duc Viet Food to reinforce its business in the Vietnamese food processing market that is set to grow fast out of its fledging stage, currently centered on frozen ham products.

Entering Vietnam in the 1990s by building a seasoning manufacturing plant, Daesang now owns three manufacturing bases across the country.

The acquisition has been attracting big attention in the context the increasingly fierce competition between sausage makers, with participation of both local and foreign players such as Vissan, Duc Viet and Thailand’s CPV.

Early this year, the Masan Group defeated South Korea’s food conglomerate CJ  to acquire a nearly 25% stake in the leading Vietnamese meat processing firm, Vissan, for VND2.13 trillion.