After losing more than VND125 billion (US$5.5 million) in Vinasun, Singaporean investment fund Government of Singapore (GIC) announced a full divestment from Vietnam Sun Corporation (VNS).

Accordingly, the fund no longer holds any shares of Vinasun, reported Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper.

Specifically, GIC sold 5.4 million VNS shares, representing 7.96 per cent of Vinasun’s capital on May 25 and currently owns no shares.

The investment fund of the Government of Singapore invested in Vinasun in August, 2014, when car-hailing applications had not been popular in Viet Nam.

The value for the acquisition at that time was estimated at VND200 billion.

The development of Uber and Grab has since put pressure on traditional Vietnamese taxi companies, including Vinasun.

Although one of the brands with the highest number of cars in HCM City, the company’s business results have declined significantly.

Vinasun’s after-tax profit last year dropped 40 per cent compared to that of 2014, to VND191 billion.

The taxi company also set a revenue target of VND1.75 trillion for this year, down nearly VND1 trillion compared to last year’s target.

The goal for before-tax and after-tax profit also decreased by 50 per cent to VND119 billion and VND95 billion, respectively.

This is the lowest profit level of the company since 2010. — VNS