(Bloomberg) -- Vietnam’s most prominent private conglomerate Vingroup JSC agreed to sell a 41.5% stake in Vincom Retail, according to a person who is familiar with the deal.

Vingroup will sell its investment unit SDI Trading Development and Investment Ltd., which holds a 99% stake in Sado Trading Commercial JSC that owns about a 41.5% in Vincom Retail, according to the person. Vingroup will still hold about an 18.8% stake in Vincom Retail, the person said. 

Vingroup, in an emailed statement, confirmed the transaction, which it said is expected to be completed sometime between March and in the third quarter. The company did not provide details of the deal, including its value and investor.

“This is the time to focus all resources to strongly develop Vingroup and key brands with high growth potential,” Nguyen Viet Quang, vice chairman of Vingroup, said in the statement. 

Shares of Vincom Retail rose as much as 6.8% Monday, its biggest advance in almost a month. The stock has rallied 16% so far this year, beating the 9.6% advance in the benchmark VN Index. Vingroup shares rose as much as 2.5%.

Vincom Retail recorded strong growth in both revenue and profit last year. The company’s 2023 after-tax profit rose 59% to 4.4 trillion dong ($178 million), with revenue up 33% to 9.8 trillion dong.

Vingroup’s divestment from Vincom Retail, which operates and develops malls, comes as the company pursues becoming a global manufacturer of electric vehicles through its VinFast unit. VinFast is constructing a $2 billion manufacturing complex in North Carolina and broke ground at its EV manufacturing site in India’s Tamil Nadu last month. 

Read: Vietnam EV Maker VinFast’s Losses Widen as Costs Surge (3)

The real estate behemoth said in 2018 that its strategy was shifting to a few core areas, including technology and manufacturing.

Vingroup and Masan Group in 2019 announced the merger of Vingroup’s VinCommerce, a supermarket and convenience store chain, and agriculture unit VinEco with Masan Consumer Corp. to form a new entity operated by Masan. 

In 2021, Vingroup shuttered its electronics devices unit VinSmart just months after exporting smartphones to the U.S.

(Updates the story with more details beginning in the eighth paragraph.)

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