The shares are equivalent to 10 per cent of total outstanding voting shares of the Vietnamese logistics company.

Gemadept’s shares (GMD) are being traded on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange at more than VND27,000 (US$1.16) per share, valuing the deal at VND805 billion ($34.5 million).

SSJ Consulting Vietnam is a newly-established company with business license issued in June this year and charter capital of more than VND958 billion ($41.1 million).

It has two main stakeholders, of which Sumitomo owns 51 per cent of capital and Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment contributes 46 per cent. Another Japanese firm Suzuyo Co Ltd has a three per cent stake.

A member of Gemadept’s management board, Tsuyoshi Kato, is also an executive of SSJ Consulting Vietnam. Kato was elected to Gemadept’s board of directors for the period 2018-23 at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in May.

At this meeting, Gemadept’s shareholders also approved the elimination of the business lines with the foreign ownership ceiling of below 49 per cent.

Gemadept is one of the leading transport and logistics companies in Viet Nam. Except logistics, it also operates in ports and the real estate sector.

Transactions will be carried out between July 5 and August 2 through put-through or the method approved by the State Securities Commission.

Viet Nam’s logistics sector is attractive to foreign investors with an annual growth rate of 13-15 per cent in recent years. Not only Japanese investors, companies from other countries have expressed their keen interest in this sector at many investment promotion meetings with local authorities.

Viet Nam advanced two spots in the World Bank’s 2018 Logistics Performance Index, ranked 39th out of 160 economies. The country targets a rank of 30th-35th by 2025, annual growth rate of 15-20 per cent and a share of 8-10 per cent in the country’s GDP by then. — VNS