SK Group sells Vietnamese assets, secures over $700 mn

[Photo by MK DB]

South Korea’s SK Group is divesting its holdings in major Vietnamese conglomerates to secure over 1 trillion won ($720 million) in liquidity as it ramps up its group restructure.

According to the group and investment banking industry sources on Thursday, SK Group exercised a put option to sell its 9 percent stake in Vietnam‘s Masan Group Corp. and is finalizing the sale negotiations. Masan Group is the second-largest retail company in Vietnam into which SK Group invested $450 million in 2018, and the South Korean company plans to recover the principal as well as interest by the end of 2024.

SK Group is also negotiating the sale of its stake in Vingroup Co., one of Vietnam’s largest conglomerates, and aims to complete negotiations by the end of the year and recover the investment by early 2025. SK Group acquired a 6.1 percent stake in Vingroup for $1 billion in 2019.

SK Group is acting swiftly and scheduled a management strategy meeting later in June 2024 to explore business restructuring and survival strategies, where a key focus will be SK on Co., SK innovation Co.’s electric vehicle battery subsidiary. A potential merger between energy affiliates SK innovation and SK E&S Co. is also being discussed internally, although a senior group official said that the group has not made a decision yet.