VinaCapital's Vietnam Opportunity Fund (VOF) has made a partial divestment of International Dairy Products (IDP), its largest private equity holding in the portfolio, representing 4.1 percent of its NAV.
VOF, along with co-investment partner Daiwa PI Partners ("DPIP"), have divested a 28 percent stake in IDP, one of Vietnam's leading dairy producers, to Blue Point, a Vietnamese financial and strategic investor in the consumer goods and dairy products sector.
The financial terms of the divestment of this privately negotiated transaction were not disclosed, although the divestment implies a return of approximately 1.5 times on invested capital for VOF.
This divestment marks the culmination of a lengthy and successful turnaround effort by the manager, which commenced from time of investment in December 2014. Over the past five years, VinaCapital has attempted to add value through the appointment of professional managers and consultants to execute the business turnaround and growth strategy.
Commenting on the successful divestment, Andy Ho (pictured), Chief Investment Officer and Managing Director at VinaCapital, stated, "We invested in IDP while it was in distress and I am pleased to see that our team has done a tremendous job restructuring and transforming this business and grow it into one of the leading players in Vietnam's dairy sector. Today, it is recognised nationwide through a strong portfolio of products and family of brands. Our new co-investor is a natural partner for us to partially exit our holding, and we welcome their involvement to further push and accelerate IDP into its next phase of growth."
In February 2020, the manager provided an update to investors that IDP recorded a very strong year in 2019 from a revenue and EBITDA perspective. As a result, the manager was able to take IDP through a capital restructuring program which enabled the company to fully repay a shareholder loan to VOF of over $15 million while working on a partial divestment to a local investor as a new significant minority shareholder in IDP.
