The Mobile World Investment Company expects to be listed on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange by the end of the second quarter next year.
The firm plans to submit its application for stock market listing to the regulator early in 2014, CEO Nguyen Duc Tai said. The move follows prompting from the firm’s major foreign investors.
International corporate financial investor CDH, Mekong Capital Enterprise, and Best Buy International’s former CEO Robert Willet are the three major foreign investors prompting the move for the local company, which runs the The Gioi Di Dong and Dien May. The former is Vietnam’s largest mobile phone store chain with shops in all cities and provinces, while the latter is a chain of home appliances and electronics stores.
Mekong Capital now holds a greater than 25.8 per cent stake in Mobile World Investment. CDH and Willet, who developed Best Buy International’s best buy mobile format, together own over a 20.41 per cent stake transferred by Mekong Capital in April 2013. However, Willet and CDH invest independently. Willet is also a new board member to the local firm and a strategic advisor.
More than 51.26 per cent of the company’s stocks are still in the hands of the five founders of the Vietnamese firm, including CEO Tai. Regarding the current unfavourable stock prices, he said the Vietnamese economy could continue to experience difficulties in 2014 but getting listed was expected to attract more capital for further expansion.
The company estimated its revenue this year at VND7.82 trillion ($372.4 million), a 25 per cent increase against 2012, with profits expected to double to VND250 billion ($11.9 million).
Established in 2004 with just four mobile phone shops in Ho Chi Minh City, the firm now has more than 200 stores nationwide.