SK invests 1.2 trillion won in Vingroup in Vietnam

South Korea's SK Group will invest 1.2 trillion won in Vingroup, the largest Vietnamese company on the basis of market cap. The “global partnering” vision of Chairman Chey Tae-won seems to gain speed as the South Korean company has decided to make a large investment in the No. 1 Vietnamese company following the last year’s investment in Masan Group, the second largest company in the Southeast Asian country.

SK signed an agreement Thursday in Hanoi to buy a 6.1 percent stake in Vingroup JSC for one billion dollars and to form a strategic partnership. The buying entity is SK South East Asia Investment Pte. Ltd. established through a joint investment among SK Holdings, SK Innovation, SK Telecom, SK E&S, and SK Hynix. Once the transaction is completed, SK Group will become the second largest shareholder after the family of Pham Nhat Vuong, Vingroup's founder and chairman. The Vingroup chairman and SK SUPEX Council Chairman Cho Dae-sik attended the signing ceremony.

SK Chairman Chey has put effort into investment in Vingroup and Masa Group for over two years. He expressed his interest in investment during a meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in November 2017 and discussed the privatization of state-run companies and measures to address environmental issues during another meeting with the prime minister in November 2018. The South Korean businessman talked about SK’s strategy to promote societal values at the first Hanoi Forum, an academic conference, last year.


Tae-Ho Hwang taeho@donga.com