Standard Chartered Private Equity (SCPE) is joining the board of directors in Vietnam-based agribusiness firm Loc Thoi Group. The development was confirmed by the agribusiness firm themselves, prior to its shareholder meeting scheduled on April 28.
This would count as StanChart’s third investment in the Southeast Asian country, following last year’s US$28 million round co-led with Goldman Sachs in e-wallet operator MoMo and US$40 million financing in kids entertainment platform N KId.
In fact, SCPE had already injected US$90 million for a minority stake in Loc Troi since three years ago, in a deal that saw fund manager Vina Capital and Duxton Asset Management exit their entire holdings in the company.
In early 2016, the bank’s investment arm sold part of its stake in Loc Troi to Marina Viet Pte Ltd based in Singapore, reducing its ownership to 11 percent.
Founded in 1993, Loc Troi was rebranded from Ah Giang Plant Protection Company which started out as a small crop chemical supplier with 23 employees, and an initial investment capital of VND 750 million.
After almost 24 years of incorporation, Loc Troi has now become the leading distributor and manufacturer of crop protection chemicals (CPC) in Vietnam, with a nationwide distribution network of 25 branches and more than 5000 dealers and retailers.
The company has also expanded to include a sustainable value chain from research, production, trading in seeds, crop chemicals, and biological-organic products.
In late-2016, it has also sealed a sustainable agricultural partnership pact with the International Finance Corporation to help support Vietnam’s agriculture sector.
Loc Troi is targeting to gain a 31.8 percent rise in net profit to VND 460 billion (about US$20.3 million) in 2017, as well as to go public on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM), a sub-bourse of the Hanoi Stock Exchange, in the second quarter of 2017.
By Vivian Foo, VCNewsNetwork
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