HÀ NỘI — The State Securities Commission has approved PAN Group JSC’s lifting of the limit of foreign ownership in the company’s capital.

With the decision, PAN Group has become the second firm in the food industry after dairy firm Vinamilk to lift the bar for foreign investors.

Foreign investors now hold 46.15 per cent of PAN Group’s charter capital. The two largest shareholders are Singapore-based investment fund Tael Two Partners Ltd with 21 per cent and Finland-based Mutual Fund Elite with 9.52 per cent.

Two other sizeable shareholders of PAN Group are Singaporean sovereign fund GIC with nearly 5 per cent and the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) with more than 4.8 per cent.

In the first half of the year, PAN recorded revenue of VNĐ1.33 trillion (US$59.37 million) and pre-tax profit of VNĐ225.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 19.2 per cent and 53 per cent, respectively.

At the end of June, the PAN Group had VNĐ920 billion worth of cash and assets similar to cash. That amount would be used to help the company’s merger and acquisition activities and become the region’s leading firm in the food and agriculture industries, in which PAN has invested more than $150 million.

In the agriculture sector, the PAN Group possesses six plant seed companies nationwide, including the Vietnam National Seed JSC (Vinaseed).

In the food industry, PAN Food Joint Stock Co (PAN Food) possesses entire stakes in some well-known brands such as Long An Food Processing Export JSC (Lafooco) and confectionery firm Bibica Corporation, and has recently purchased nearly a quarter of the 584 Nha Trang Sea Product Joint Stock Co. — VNS