On November 6, Japan’s Marubeni Corporation acquired a minor stake and become a strategic partner of the Asia Ingredients Group (AIG), a Vietnamese manufacturer of food ingredients and packaged food products.

The deal was conducted through the Corporation’s wholly-owned Singapore-based subsidiary, Marubeni Growth Capital Asia Pte. Ltd (MGCA). This was its second investment in the food and beverage sector and part of efforts to lead the growing market in Southeast Asia and the US.

Mr. Nguyen Thien Truc, Chairman of AIG, said it is trying to grow its international reach by offering items with modern, advanced technical solutions and ingredients as well as high nutritional value. “We constantly develop our production technology and expand our distribution system to serve the domestic market of more than 100 million Vietnamese people, and introduce value-added products from Vietnamese agricultural products to the world,” he said.

“The cooperation with Marubeni is strong affirmation of our 22 years of development and contribution to the growth of Vietnam’s food industry,” he continued. “We look forward to working together with MGCA to rapidly realize our vision of becoming the leading partner for high-quality food-related ingredients, products, and services.”

Mr. Bharat Sarma, President and CEO of MGCA, said AIG is a leading company in the food sector in Vietnam and is undergoing strategic transformation in regard to innovation, solutions development, and natural food products. “We believe in working closely with founders and management teams to drive sustainable transformation that helps businesses thrive over the long term,” he said. “We are excited to partner with AIG and are committed to leveraging Marubeni’s ecosystem to help the company achieve exceptional growth and create greater value together.”