Dalat Hasfarm said to have raised $70m from Lombard Investments
International private equity firm Lombard Investments said to have invested $70 million in Vietnamese floriculture company Dalat Hasfarm in lieu of a majority stake.
by Nguyen Thi Bich NgocThe PE firm, which has an office in Ho Chi Minh City, completed the deal a few months ago but the investment was not disclosed, according to two persons familiar with the transaction.
Dalat Hasfarm declined to comment on the development, while queries sent to Lombard Investments did not elicit any response.
Lombard Investments’s managing team is based in Bangkok but it also has offices in Hong Kong and San Francisco.
The firm says on its website that it invests in businesses with a required equity capital of $50 million or more, with a focus on sectors such as food and beverage, retail, financial services, media and entertainment, healthcare, education and energy.
“Lombard will also consider special opportunities in tourism and hospitality, light manufacturing for export, auto parts manufacturing, food processing and real estate related businesses,” it says.
The PE firm closed Lombard Asia IV in 2013, which was hard-capped at $350 million and oversubscribed. The predecessor vehicle was Lombard Asia III, a $234-million, 2007 vintage fund.
Formed in 1985, Lombard has made over 100 minority growth and control investments in Asia and North America. Its portfolio companies in Vietnam include mom and baby product retailer Concung and shrimp farming firm Viet Uc Seafood. The firm is also an investor in Zilingo‘s Thai rival Pomelo.
Meanwhile, Dalat Hasfarm was established in 1994, and currently operates about 320 hectares of farms as well as a network of four distribution centres in four major cities of Vietnam, 16 flower shops and distribution of products in dozens of local supermarket chains.
Dalat Hasfarm is considered the largest flower farming company in Vietnam. Most flower cultivation businesses locate their farms in Da Lat, the highland of Lam Dong, a central province in Vietnam.
The province’s exports of flowers reached more than $48 million in 2019, and Dalat Hasfarm reportedly took up over 60 per cent of the total. The company is exporting to over 10 countries.
Dalat Hasfarm has stakes in four affiliate companies, including flower exporter Greenwings New Zealand, importer Greenwings Japan, Kunming Hasfarm (China) and PT Tamora Stekindo (Indonesia).
In 2014, it established Bio-Pro, a unit specialising in beneficial pests and fungi. Growing business through new investments Still a fragmented industry, the local flower market has not seen many investments by fund managers.
Most recently, Greenwings New Zealand, an affiliate company of Dalat Hasfarm, and individual investor Pham Hop Pho have invested $1.2 million in flower delivery service Hoayeuthuong.
Greenwings is an existing shareholder of Hoayeuthuong, having put a $500,000 funding in the startup in exchange for a 20 per cent stake in 2017.
In the latest financing, Greenwings purchased another 5 stake for $500,000, and will provide a $500,000 no-interest loan. The convertible loan will grant Greenwings a 25 per cent discount in the Vietnamese company’s next fundraising rounds, Hoayeuthuong said in a statement.
Since the first investment in 2017, Dalat Hasfarm has been one of the providers for Hoayeuthuong.
Meanwhile, Pho, a managing director at VietCapital Asset Management and former IDG Ventures vice president, invested $200,000 in Hoayeuthuong. “Pham Hop Pho will support Hoayeuthuong in financial management, market expansion as well as next fundraises,” Hoayeuthuong said.
Founded in 2015, the company claims it wants to promote Vietnam’s floriculture sector, with 99 per cent of the flowers provided through its service grown in the country.
Nguồn DealStreetAsia
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