The Singapore-based automotive group, Jardine Cycle and Carriage (JC&C), has made additional purchases of Vinamilk’s shares after its maiden US$616.6 million investment on November 10.

This has increased its ownership in Viet Nam’s largest dairy producer to 10 per cent.

According to the group’s announcement on Friday, Platinum Victory Pte. Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of JC&C, has made further on-market purchases to acquire an additional of nearly 16.5 million shares from Vinamilk, representing approximately 1.1 per cent of the issued share capital of Vinamilk.

Following the acquisition, the JC&C group now has an aggregate interest in nearly 145.6 million Vinamilk shares, representing approximately 10.0 per cent of Vinamilk’s issued share capital.

On November 10, JC&C beat other bidders to purchase a 3.33 per cent stake in Vinamilk from the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) at an open auction on the HCM Stock Exchange. It also acquired another 2.2 per cent stake via order-matching transactions to bring its holding to up to 5.53 per cent.

Currently, JC&C is the third-largest shareholder of Vinamilk, after SCIC with 36 per cent and Singapore’s food and beverages company Fraser&Neave, with 18.74 per cent.

Foreign investors hold a combined 56.44 per cent of Vinamilk. The firm’s market capitalisation reached VNĐ265.88 trillion ($11.71 billion) on Friday morning, rising 7.45 per cent from the $10.9 billion value on November 10 when the automotive major made the first investment in Vinamilk.

JC&C, a subsidiary of Jardine Matheson, has been present in Việt Nam for over a decade. It now owns a 25.1 per cent stake in automobile producer, Thaco, and nearly 23 per cent in the Refrigeration Electrical Engineering Corporation (REE Corp).

In addition to operating in real estate, hotel and financial services, Jardine Matheson, the parent company of JC&C, also holds shares of many franchise brands in Viet Nam such as KFC and Pizza Hut. — VNS