Masan Consumer steps into animal feed
The move by Masan Consumer, a Vietnamese consumer goods manufacturer, of buying 40% of Proconco, an animal feed manufacturer – is believed to change the face of the Vietnamese animal feed market which is being controlled by foreigners.
With the consultancy by Morgan Stanley, Masan spent $96 million to buy 40% of Proconco’s stakes from Prudential investment fund. Masan has assigned Masan Consumer, a subsidiary, to develop the new business field.
In the press release, Masan Consumer said the purchase of Proconco would lay a foundation for the company to join the nutritional food market – the business field which has been witnessing considerable growth over the last few years.
This is an important step taken by Masan in implementing the strategy to provide nutritional food products which can meet the European hygiene standards.
In order to implement the strategy, Masan Consumer would set up a value chain of “clean breeders – clean food – clean processing – warehousing and distribution” by 2013, before it launches a new brand into the market by 2014.
Analysts said Masan Consumer is following the model that helped Thailand based Charoen Pokphand Group develop strongly. CP Foods began its development as a livestock feed processor. After that, it jumped into the field of husbandry, then to food processing, and finally, it has successfully developed a clean food brand – the brand of the products made from a closed process.
Masan Consumer joins a cutthroat competition with foreign giants in the field, including CP Group, Cargill, Tomboy (Australian Skretting Group).
Of these, CP group proves to be the biggest rival for Masan. CP Group has been trying to control the Thai animal feed market, considering this an assistant step to join the clean food market in Vietnam – the thing that it did in China.
