Before Thien Long ballpoint pen owner, many Vietnamese brands fell into foreign hands.

(Dan Tri) - If in the past the M&A game favored the Thai billionaire group, in recent years, Japanese and Korean tycoons have also gradually actively participated in mergers and acquisitions in Vietnam.

The news that Kokuyo Group (Japan) will acquire Thien Long Group (owner of Thien Long Ballpoint Pen brand) has attracted attention. Some opinions say that combining with foreign investors will be a "launching pad" for Vietnamese enterprises, but many parties expressed regret when another famous brand fell into foreign hands.

According to the plan, Kokuyo will buy a total of 65.01% of shares, officially turning Thien Long into a subsidiary. The estimated value of the deal is up to 27.6 billion Yen (equivalent to 4,700 billion VND).

Thien Long is a long-standing stationery company established in 1981, with Mr. Co Gia Tho as Chairman of the Board of Directors. After decades of development, from the image associated with the "national product" Thien Long ballpoint pen, the company has become a stationery company with a large market share in Vietnam.

Before Thien Long, many Vietnamese brands were acquired by foreign countries.

Before Thien Long Ballpoint Pen, many Vietnamese brands fell into foreign hands (Photo: DT).

P/S, X-Men, Highlands... were sold one after another.

In particular, P/S is a typical M&A deal for Vietnamese enterprises being acquired by foreign countries. P/S Chemical Company (Da Lan) under the Department of Industry of Ho Chi Minh City has been developed since 1975. The name P/S toothpaste began to be widely known and quickly occupied 60% of the market in the years 1988-1993.

By 1998, when he could no longer cope with the losses, Mr. Trinh Thanh Nhon - the owner of Da Lan, agreed to sell 100% of his capital to his partner Unilever.

The X-Men brand - a brand of the International Consumer Goods Company (ICP) in which Mr. Phan Quoc Cong and a friend jointly contributed capital - had to sell 85% of its shares to Marico (India) in 2010. The reason was that at that time the economy was in a serious crisis, bank interest rates were up to 20%, and businesses were going bankrupt in large numbers.

Mr. David Thai's Viet Thai International Company (VTI) also caused a stir when it sold the Highlands Coffee brand - his "favorite child" that brought him fame. The buyer was Jollibee (Philippines), which reportedly spent 25 million USD to buy 49% of VTI's Vietnam business division and 60% of VTI's Hong Kong (China) business division.

Thailand dominates, new "powers" Japan, South Korea... begin to appear

In the retail sector, a series of Vietnamese supermarkets were acquired by Thai giants. In April 2016, Central Group spent 1.14 billion USD to buy Big C Vietnam. Previously, in 2015, Central Group spent more than 200 million USD to buy back 49% of the shares of the company that owns the Nguyen Kim electronics supermarket chain. Or the Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam supermarket chain also fell into the hands of Thai people.

On the stock market, looking at the famous deals, the most recent one was the Thai billionaire spending nearly 5 billion USD to buy 53.59% of Sabeco of Vietnam. Each Sabeco share was paid by Thai investors at 320,000 VND, higher than the market price of about 309,000 VND/share - which was among the most expensive in the stock market at that time.

However, with the amount of money spent to acquire Sabeco, ThaiBev has not yet fully covered the interest from the VND110,000 billion deal (recorded in the analysis report of Rong Viet Securities at the end of October).

Also a "deal" that attracted a lot of attention on the stock exchange: In early 2018, The Nawaplastic Industries - part of SCG Group Thailand - officially increased its share ownership ratio at Binh Minh Plastic Company to over 54%.

Unlike Thaibev, up to this year, The Nawaplastic Industries has received over 2,800 billion VND in dividends alone - slightly more than the capital they spent to acquire Binh Minh Plastics.

If in the past, the M&A game favored Thai billionaires, in recent years, Japanese and Korean tycoons have also gradually actively participated in mergers and acquisitions in Vietnam.

For example, Japan has just made two consecutive deals: Kokuyo "bought" Thien Long, Asahi Life received the transfer of MVI Life, retail giant AEON quickly established its presence by buying 49% of Citimart shares and 30% of Fivimart shares in 2015....

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/kinh-doanh/truoc-chu-but-bi-thien-long-nhieu-thuong-hieu-viet-roi-vao-tay-nuoc-ngoai-20251208171738794.htm