(Bloomberg) -- Two of Vietnam’s most important companies plan to merge some of their units to create a retail giant in the country.

Vingroup JSC’s retail and agriculture units will merge with Masan Consumer Holdings -- a subsidiary of Masan Group Corp. -- to create the new corporation, according to a Vingroup statement. Vingroup’s shares in VinCommerce and VinEco will be converted into shares of the new company, in which Vingroup will be a shareholder and Masan Group will take control.

Vingroup, which started its auto assembly firm VinFast this year, agreed to the merger so it can focus more on manufacturing and technology, according to the statement. VinCommerce operates 2,600 more than VinMart supermarkets and VinMart+ stores, while VinEco oversees 14 farms.

“The deal will maximize the core competencies of each party to develop a new enterprise,” the statement said, adding the move will lead “the development of Vietnam’s consumer-retail industry toward regional scale.”

A representative of Masan declined to comment on Vingroup’s statement.

The agreement will be finalized after legal procedures are worked through, according to the statement.

--With assistance from Mai Ngoc Chau.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nguyen Kieu Giang in Hanoi at giang1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: John Boudreau at jboudreau3@bloomberg.net, Lianting Tu

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