SK buys 9.5% stake in Vietnam’s Masan Group

SK Group will acquire a 9.5 percent stake in Vietnamese food and beverage company Masan Group to become its largest foreign shareholder.

The Korean conglomerate announced Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire the stake at $470 million. The two companies will jointly look for business opportunities in Vietnam through strategic investments.

Masan Group is at the top of the Vietnamese food and beverage market. Its business portfolio expands into finance, animal breeding and mineral mining. Its yearly revenue posted 1.9 trillion won ($1.7 billion) last year.

“The latest investment is meaningful in a way that it is part of the group’s effort to secure new business opportunity in the global markets just like Chairman Chey Tae-won emphasized in his New Year speech early this year,” said Lee Hang-soo, head of the group’s PR team in a statement Wednesday.

“SK Group and Masan Group will cooperate to develop new businesses in Vietnam as well as elsewhere in the Southeast Asia region,” he added.

SK Group has been showing keen interest in fortifying its global business over the past few years.

SK has been looking for business opportunities in the United States, China and Southeast Asia. The group had established a new investment arm in Singapore based on joint investment from its five subsidiaries.