South Korea’s conglomerate SK Group along with the National Pension Service (NPS) has launched a US$860-million fund to invest in Vietnamese companies, through which the South Korean conglomerate could ramp up investment in Vietnam’s two biggest companies – Vingroup and Masan Group, the Korean Investors reported.

Illustrative photo.

For the corporate partnership (COPA) fund, NPS and SK will contribute US$430 million, respectively. It will be managed by South Korea’s SKS Private Equity and Stonebridge Capital, according to investment banking sources on December 18.

The NPS-SK fund comes after SK Group invested US$1 billion to buy a 6.1% stake in Vietnam’s biggest company Vingroup in May, thus becoming the latter’s strategic investor.

Last September, SK Group invested US$470 million to purchase 110 million treasury shares of Vietnam’s Masan Group Corporation, equivalent to a 9.5% stake, becoming Masan’s largest foreign shareholder. 

Moreover, SK Group has provided a non-refundable grant worth US$30 million to facilitate the development of the National Innovation Center (NIC) in Vietnam.

Alongside the investments, SK Group received an option to co-invest in new businesses with the Vietnamese companies and priority rights to make an equity investment for their M&A deals and to buy a stake in units of the Vietnamese groups when they are floated on the stock market.

In a meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in June, SK Group’s Chairman Chey Tae-won said the group is committed to long-term business in Vietnam and willing to support the country’s initiatives for development in the future.