Vietnam’s Vingroup snaps up local grocery chain

Vietnam’s largest retail group has snapped up local supermarket chain Maximark.

Vingroup, whose assets already include 12 Vincom shopping centres with a raft of its own retail brands inside, and 125 VinMart grocery stores, will rebrand the nine Maximark hypermarkets under the VinMart+ name.

“The acquisition aims at expanding Vingroup’s retail network reinforcing the status of Vietnamese brands to create a counterweight to international brands that are coming into Vietnam,” Vingroup said in a statement.

The seller is Hanoi-based An Phong JSC which developed the chain from scratch.

“The nationwide expansion will assist the spread of Vietnamese product brands and help retain their market share, contributing to building the competitiveness of local manufacturers amid an influx of global companies into Vietnam,” Vingroup’s vice chairman Le Khac Hiep said.

Vingroup plans to operate 40 shopping centres across the nation by the end of 2016 and 100 by 2020.

In June, Vingroup Retail received a US$100 million private equity capital investment led by Warburg Pincus, to help fund its ambitious retail expansion plans.

Vingroup Joint Stock Company is Vietnam’s largest publicly-traded real estate operator and one of its largest companies by market capitalisation.

The Vincom Retail malls are home to more than 700 domestic and international brands, with major tenants such as Robins Department Store, Marks & Spencer, CJ CGV, Mango, DKNY, French Connection, BCBGMaxazria, Karen Millen, GAP, Lacoste, Nike, Adidas, Emigo, VinMart, VinPro and Vinpearl Land.