Vingroup announces plan to buy supermarket chain

Vingroup has announced it will buy a 100 percent stake in supermarket chain Maximark of HCM City-based An Phong Joint Investment Joint Stock Company.

The total value of the deal has yet to be announced.

The move is part of the groups plan to increase it's presence in the retail sector as more foreign retailers begin to enter the Vietnamese market.

With this acquisition, Vingroup will own nine Maximark outlets and other properties which previously belonged to An Phong.

Maximark is a popular retailer in southern and south-central Vietnam, with four supermarkets in HCM City, two in Khanh Hoa and one each in Dong Nai, Ninh Thuan, and Phu Yen.

Each of these nine outlets will become members of either the VinMart/VinMart plus or Vincom Retail chains operated by Vingroup.

Vice Chairman of Vingroup Le Khac Hiep said apart from bringing a modern way of shopping for customers with 100 percent of products made in Vietnam, the group would cooperate with domestic businesses and increase their competitiveness against foreign companies.

The Maximark deal came only six months after Vingroup acquired the Vinatexmart fashion store chain from state-run Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex).

The deal allowed the company to obtain 39 Vinatexmart outlets in 19 cities and provinces across the country. The Vinatexmart and Maximark deals are part of a strategy to boost the company's presence in the retail sector countrywide and particularly in the southern market, according Vingroup.

In October 2014, Vingroup officially entered the retail sector by acquiring the OceanMart chain from Ocean Group and renamed it VinMart.

As of October 2015, there are 125 VinMart outlets under the names of VinMart and VinMart+-VNA