The scale of Thien Long makes the Japanese group plan to spend 4,700 billion to acquire it.

No impact on current business

The news that Japanese corporation Kokuyo plans to spend up to 27.6 billion yen (equivalent to 4,700 billion VND) to acquire Thien Long ballpoint pen, just announced, has attracted attention in the market, because Thien Long is the largest stationery enterprise in Vietnam, with 45 years of stable production and business and exports to 74 countries around the world .

In a notice sent to the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE) on December 4, Thien Long said that the Resolution of the Board of Directors of Thien Long Group Joint Stock Company (TLG) acknowledged that Thien Long An Thinh Investment Joint Stock Company is negotiating, agreeing and signing a transaction with Kokuyo Group, to transfer all shares of Thien Long An Thinh to Kokuyo.

Thien Long's Nam Thien Long factory in Tan Tao Industrial Park specializes in producing stationery and pens for domestic and export needs.

Thien Long An Thinh is a major shareholder, owning 46.82% of TLG's charter capital. This is a company owned by the founder Thien Long and his associates.

Along with that, Kokuyo plans to make a public offering to buy up to 18.19% of TLG's common shares, aiming to achieve an ownership ratio of about 65.01% of TLG's charter capital after completing related transactions.

Thien Long added that the expected transactions are in the negotiation stage, towards signing an agreement. And the implementation depends on many next steps, including approvals from authorities.

"Thien Long confirms that the expected transaction will not affect the company's daily production and business activities at the present time, and the business units are still maintaining stable operations. The company believes that there will be no significant changes in personnel, policies or governance structure during the current period.

The company continues to focus on product quality, service standards and operational efficiency, in line with its sustainable development strategy in the stationery sector over the past 45 years," Thien Long's announcement affirmed.

In addition, the leading Vietnamese stationery manufacturer and trader also expressed its expectation of the potential to expand cooperation with a reputable Japanese partner, especially in the fields of R&D, design and product enhancement. Thereby supporting the company's long-term development orientation.

Japanese corporation Kokuyo plans to spend about VND4,700 billion to turn Thien Long ballpoint pen into a subsidiary.

Thien Long continuously invests, buys, sells and merges

Thien Long Group Joint Stock Company is famous for its ballpoint pen products named Thien Long, along with a series of leading stationery brands in Vietnam with more than 1,000 products, such as FlexOffice stationery, Bizner high-end pens, Colokit art tools, Flexio...

The company's business results have increased almost continuously, except during the pandemic period and in 2023. Since 2011, Thien Long's revenue has exceeded a trillion VND.

In May this year, the group announced its investment in Phuong Nam Culture Joint Stock Company (PNC), which has about 50 bookstores, to expand its toy business.

Thien Long's Board of Directors said that investing in Phuong Nam is one of the strategic steps in developing new product lines, especially the toy or lifestyle (stylish consumer goods) group that has been pursued in recent years.

This M&A deal is expected to help both Thien Long and Phuong Nam create growth momentum and open up new opportunities.

In August 2025, Thien Long also announced a resolution to invest in the Philippines market, to create the FlexOffice Philippines brand with a capital of 2.8 million USD (nearly 73 billion VND). The goal is to import and trade stationery and other products and goods in the Philippines.

In 2025, Thien Long set a revenue target of VND4,200 billion and profit of VND450 billion. By the end of September, the company recorded revenue of more than VND3,225 billion, after-tax profit of nearly VND376 billion, completing 77% of the revenue target and 84% of the profit target.

Mr. Co Gia Tho once shared that as a listed company, Thien Long has contacted and received investment capital from many shareholders and foreign investment funds. But the company determined to only cooperate, not form joint ventures, and not lose the essence of the Vietnamese brand.

Since 2011, Thien Long's revenue has exceeded a trillion VND and has continuously grown.

He also said that in this open era, the world is flat, so whether or not to be acquired depends on the business's policy. When receiving investment, businesses should have mutually beneficial cooperation mechanisms, increase market share and have technical and market resonance.

The steady path of leading enterprises

Thien Long is one of the first enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City established after the country's reunification. According to Brand Finance, the enterprise's brand value in 2025 has reached 63 million USD, equivalent to 1,700 billion VND (the ranking in 2024 is 40 million USD, equivalent to 1,000 billion VND).

On the company's website, in 1981, Thien Long ballpoint pen facility was established by Mr. Co Gia Tho and began investing in equipment, penetrating the domestic pen market.

Sharing the story of choosing to start a business with ballpoint pens, Mr. Co Gia Tho, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Thien Long, said that he is the eldest child in a family of 10 children. After the country was unified, he was 17 years old, seeing his parents struggling to provide for the family of 13 mouths, he decided to go out and work.

At that time, not only stationery but also necessities were scarce. Every time he passed by the school gates, he saw people filling ink and repairing pens in great numbers. From then on, he realized that the demand for pens was very high. After careful research, he learned that in Ho Chi Minh City, there were already pen-making establishments, meaning that the market existed but no one had done it properly, and he decided to start selling pens.

The company also has a central warehouse of up to 14,000m2 in Binh Chanh.

He went to small workshops to receive pens and then resold them to newsstands and bookstores. The work initially paid off, helping him accumulate capital and switch to self-production in 1981.

Initially, the workshop was a family economic model, assembling products, but the advantage was that it operated in the Chinese community, which had developed small-scale handicrafts before 1975, and already had a place to produce plastic tubes for pen bodies, pen refills, pen tips...

In 1996, Thien Long Production and Trading Company Limited was established. This is also one of the first enterprises to be present in Tan Tao Industrial Park following the call, encouragement and support of Ho Chi Minh City in the early 2000s, starting to organize systematic production, with a research and development department (R&D), quality management, wastewater treatment...

From a small production facility, Thien Long has gradually become a professional enterprise, marking a new development stage in improving product quality, production capacity, diversifying product designs and developing global consumer markets.

Mr. Co Gia Tho, founder and turned Thien Long into a brand worth 63 million USD.

In the period 2005 - 2007, Thien Long Production - Trading Company Limited transformed into Thien Long Production - Trading Joint Stock Company, with charter capital of 100 billion VND then increased to 120 billion VND, products were strongly developed.

In 2010, Thien Long was listed on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange and changed its name to Thien Long Group Joint Stock Company. From then on, its products dominated the domestic market with about 60% market share, leading the stationery industry in Vietnam and began exporting.

Since 2018, the company's charter capital has increased to 778 billion VND, products are exported to 65 countries, and a trading company has been established in Singapore, invested and contributed capital to many businesses, and expanded the factory.

Currently, Thien Long has 7 member companies and affiliated companies specializing in the production and trading of stationery, books and newspapers in Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia.

Quang Huy

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/quy-mo-cua-thien-long-khien-tap-doan-nhat-du-kien-chi-4-700-ty-de-thau-tom-ar991173.html