Masan Group, the Vietnamese conglomerate which manufactures a range of food products, has received investment of $200m from US private-equity firm Bain Capital.
Bain and Masan have suggested other investors could be brought in to take the money raised to $500m.
The proceeds will be used to strengthen Ho Chi Minh City-based Masan’s financial position, the company said. Masan also has interests in sectors including food retail and financial services.
On the food side, it has a range of branded products including chilled meat and deli items, soy sauce and noodles. Major brands include MeatLife, Chin-Su and Nam Ngu.
The funding is Bain Capital’s first investment in Vietnam. The private-equity firm said the investment “underscores its confidence in Masan’s ability to realise the immense opportunity to fulfil 100m Vietnamese consumers’ daily grocery, financial, and other life needs”.
According to Bain Capital, Vietnam is the fastest consumption growth market in South East Asia with forecasted annual growth of 7.7% between 2022 and 2040, underpinned by increasing urbanisation and an “exploding” consumer class with higher disposable income.
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Commenting on the investment, Masan CEO Danny Le said: “In the face of a challenging consumer environment, Masan has continued to invest in our platform and breakthrough innovations to position ourselves for the consumer upswing. We aim to be a profitable multiplier on Vietnam’s golden consumption era. Bain Capital’s partnership is a strong validation of all the consumer-centric investments and transformation we have made over the past 18 months to win 80% of the consumer wallet.”
Barnaby Lyons, a partner at Bain Capital, added: “Masan is one of the most trusted brands in Vietnam with significant reach to households with the ability to anticipate consumer tastes and build out an innovative product pipeline to meet those needs. We see a significant opportunity to invest behind Masan’s continued growth and first-class management team.”
This is not the first time Masan has received investment backing from a US firm.
New York’s KKR held a stake in the company between 2011 and 2016 and then invested $250m in its platform Masan Nutri-Science in 2017.
Bain Capital’s other food industry interests include owning Ireland-based Valeo Foods – behind brands such as Kettle crisps and Jacob’s crackers – and having a minority stake in US sous-vide business Cuisine Solutions.
