Japanese food and beverage producer House Foods Corporation on Dec. 3 signed an agreement to acquire a 1.85 percent stake from HCM Stock Exchange-listed Masan Group, said the local food producer.

Accordingly, House Foods will spend 20 million USD to buy the stakes, equivalent to 9 million new ordinary shares, marking the acquisition a strategic partnership with Masan .

The number of ordinary shares outstanding post the enlargement will be around 485.4 million. Presently, Masan has listed 476.3 million shares on the HCM Stock Exchange, under the MSN code. MSN on Dec. 3 closed at 32,600 VND a piece.

The deal will enable Masan to leverage House Foods Corporation’s research and development capabilities to enhance quality and augment its product lines. Similarly, House Foods will be able to capitalise on Masan ’s knowledge of Vietnam and its network.

“ Masan will continue to partner with leading financial and strategic players to execute our strategy of creating a local multi-national corporation to execute Vietnamese values,” said Madhur Maini, CEO of Masan Group.

Meanwhile, Hiroshi Urakami president of House Foods Corporation, greatly appreciated the partnership with Masan , saying that Vietnam would have tremendous growth opportunities in the future.

Previously, Masan made the partner with private investment group Texas Pacific and Denmark ’s BankInvest, receiving a combined investment of 50 million USD./.