Standard Chartered PE pours $40 million in Vietnamese lifestyle platform

November 25, 2016 | 15:40

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Standard Chartered Private Equity (SCPE), the private equity arm of Standard Chartered Bank, has poured $40 million into acquiring a significant minority stake in N Kid Corporation (N Kid), a Vietnamese lifestyle platform for kids and teenagers. The information was published on the website of BDA Partners, the exclusive financial advisor to N Kid.

According to BDA Partners, N Kid selected SCPE as its preferred partner after several rounds of discussions. SCPE will bring invaluable operational expertise and wide-scale global network to the partnership.

Proceeds from the transaction will be used as expansion capital to support the further roll-out of family entertainment centres and retail outlets across Vietnam, the expansion of distribution channels, and the development of new adjacent businesses.

Established in 2009, N Kid is the leading integrated children’s lifestyle platform in Vietnam, with operations spanning across the distribution, and retail segments.

The company now operates 30 family entertainment centres across the country under the brand names tiNiWorld and T-CLB, Phuong Nga Toys, mom and baby products distribution stores and altogether 20 Toyland and Babyland retail outlets.

Meanwhile, SCPE provides companies with expansion capital as well as acquisition and management buy-out finances. It has invested over $6 billion in 100 companies worldwide.

Pouring capital in N Kid marks SCPE’s second investment in Vietnam in the course of 2016. Earlier, in March, SCPE invested a combined $25 million in Vietnamese start-up M-Service, the operator of mobile e-wallet MoMo.

In September 2014, SCPE spent $35 million to acquire a significant minority stake in Mekong Capital’s restaurant chain Golden Gate. Only two weeks later, it completed the purchase of another significant minority stake in An Giang Plant Protection JSC, a market leader in the Vietnamese agricultural sector.