Vietnamese agriculture and food company PAN Group JSC has finalised its private placement plan with Japanese Sojitz Corporation, which is projected to take place between now and the end of the year.

PAN Group will issue a maximum of 14.86 million shares, equivalent to 11 per cent of its stake, to Sojitz Corporation, or a directly or indirectly wholly-owned subsidiary of the Japanese company.

The offering price will be no less than VND55,000 (US$2.35) per share, a discount of 4.4 per cent to Monday’s close.

In its final plan, the company said it will authorise chairman of the board of directors to decide the offering price based on negotiations with the investor, taking account of investor’s ability to support the business and investment plans, and market conditions at the implementation date.

The shares, to be issued within this year, will not be transferable for 12 months.

If the deal is executed successfully, Sojitz will become a major shareholder and have a strategic partnership with PAN.

PAN Group has increased its ownership limit for foreign investors to 100 per cent. Its current major shareholders include Saigon Securities Inc (20 per cent), NDH Invest (11 per cent), The Asian Entrepreneur Legacy (TAEL) Partners (20 per cent), Mutual Fund Elite (9.79 per cent) and CSC Vietnam (5.2 per cent).

Founded in 1998 with charter capital of just VND250 million, PAN Group has been continuously expanding in recent years though mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Its current businesses covers seed and cultivation, confectionery and FMCG packaged food products, cashew nut and aquatic products processing for export, striving to develop an integrated value chain 3F (Farm-Food-Family).

PAN Group is expected to raise VND817.4 billion ($35 million) and lift its charter capital from VND1.2 trillion to VND1.35 trillion after the private issue.

The share issue will help the company find more strategic shareholders to assist its development strategy, as well as acquire more capital to increase its stake in subsidiaries and finance its M&A projects in the field of agriculture, raw materials and food nutrition, packaged food and beverages.

At the annual shareholders’ meeting in April, PAN Group’s leaders said it was planning an M&A deal this year but declined to disclose its target company.

Viet Nam is a major agricultural exporter of farm produces such as rice, coffee, cashew and pepper. With a population of more than 96 million and a fast-growing economy, consumption of food and related products is predicted to increase by 10 per cent annually over the next five years.

On it’s website PAN describes Viet Nam as a ‘promising market’.

The company’s profits has steadily increased since 2014, reaching nearly VND503 billion in 2017, up 49.5 per cent against 2016. Ending June this year, it recorded consolidated sales of VND3.55 trillion and net profit of VND204.7 billion, up 136 per cent in revenues and 66 per cent in profit compared to the same period of last year.

Its share prices have climbed nearly 60 per cent this year to around VND57,500 per share on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange.

Recently, the company approved the plan of issuing bonds worth maximum VND1.14 trillion to investors, expected in this quarter. – VNS