Steel producer Hoa Sen Group (HSG) has sold nearly 12 million shares to three domestic and foreign financial institutions: the Republic of Korea ’s STIC Investment Inc, FPT Securities Co and Bong Sen Fund Management Co.

The share sale has allowed the Ho Chi Minh City-listed Hoa Sen to raise capital of 538 billion VND (28 million USD) and made Hoa Sen the first Vietnamese enterprise in which STIC has invested following nearly two years of market research, according to Kevin Lim, general director of STIC, which made a 10 million USD investment in the group.

“STIC chose Hoa Sen group for two reasons,” said Kim. “First, it is the business leadership of the company’s chairman, Le Phuoc Vu. And second, the company’s management system and employee competence attracted us.”

Vu confirmed that the strategic cooperation marked a new stage in the development of Hoa Sen and would help it achieve a target of 1 billion USD in annual revenue and 100 million USD in annual profit.

Capital raised from the sale of Hoa Sen shares would be used in building the Ton Hoa Sen Phu My Factory, which would produce up to a million tonnes of zinc-coated and cool-rolled steel per year once completed, Vu said.

Products from the first phase would be on the market next month.

Hoa Sen Group, established in 2001, currently has charter capital of 570 billion VND (30 million USD). Last year, the group earned 2.85 trillion VND (149 million USD) and posted a net profit of 189 billion VND (10 million USD). This year, it has targeted a much higher 5 trillion VND (262 million USD) in revenue and 520 billion VND (27.2 million USD) in profit./.