Masan Group Corporation (Masan), the largest retailer in Vietnam, has announced that its integrated consumer-retail arm, The CrownX Corporation, has acquired a US $350 million investment from a group of investors.
TPG, Platinum Orchid (an Abu Dhabi Investment Authority wholly-owned company), and SeaTown Master Fund are among the investors (managed by a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of Temasek Holdings).
CrownX intends to use the funds to fund expansion efforts and share repurchase, with a worldwide IPO planned for 2024.
“We look forward to a 2023-2024 international IPO of The CrownX with three simple KPIs: i) increasing our share of the consumer wallet by expanding our network, ii) digitising our entire platform to become a consumer tech company, and iii) double-digit profit margins,” said Danny Le, CEO of Masan said in a statement.
This is The CrownX’s final capital transaction after attracting more than US $1.5 billion in investment since its debut last year. Alibaba Group and Baring Private Equity Asia led the last round of $400 million, which closed in July.
Masan will hold 81.4 percent of The CrownX when the newest purchase is completed.
The CrownX takes use of the mini-mall idea, which combines both offline and online formats to provide a wide range of everyday necessities.
The company’s next objective is to build fintech solutions for underserved, mass-market consumers, such as purchase now, pay later (BNPL) items. The CrownX will achieve this aim by combining its loyalty programme with the core of Reddi, a mobile virtual network operator (which it acquired in September).
“Investors are paying close attention to the rising middle class, rapid urbanisation, and strong underlying economic fundamentals in Vietnam. These well-positions the country as “a significant driver of the next chapter of Asia’sconsumption story,” said David Tan, managing director at TPG Capital Asia.
Masan’s confidence in The CrocnX is bolstered by his turnaround of WinCommerce, a retail network (previously known as VinCommerce) that he acquired from real estate and retail behemoth Vingroup. In the third quarter of 2021, the company turned a profit for the first time.
