Fruit producer HAGL Agrico to boost capital by 25 pct

HAGL Agrico plans to convert bonds into shares and raise its charter capital by 25 percent to VND11.08 trillion ($477.93 million).

Banana is one of HAGL Agrico's main fruits. Photo courtesy of HAGL Agrico.

On August 9, the company, formally Hoang Anh Gia Lai Agrico, will convert 221,700 bonds to 221.7 million shares, equivalent to one bond per 1,000 shares, it said in a statement. Its current charter capital is VND8.87 trillion ($382.6 million).

Automaker Truong Hai Auto Corporation (THACO), which owns 13.12 percent of HAGL Agrico, holds 99.99 percent of the bonds. The rest belongs to 14 individuals.

HAGL Agrico’s HNG share was traded at VND17,850 (77 cents) on Tuesday, down 5 percent from this year’s peak on July 15.

In June last year, HAGL Agrico offered 221,710 bonds to shareholders, each convertible into 1,000 shares, but a mere 22 were bought. THACO picked up the remaining 221,688 bonds for VND2.2 trillion ($97.7 million), which carried a coupon rate of zero percent.

HAGL Agrico has been facing financial difficulties since early 2018. It reported revenues of VND1.66 trillion ($71.59 million) in 2018 and losses of VND171.75 billion ($7.41 million) against profits of VND9.16 billion ($395,000) the previous year.

THACO, a leading car and commercial vehicle maker in Vietnam, has been seeking to increase its ownership in Agrico in recent months and has stepped in several times to rescue HAGL Agrico from financial difficulties.

It has so far injected around VND22 trillion ($949 million) in the form of equity and loans, helping Agrico restructure itself.

Agrico has been growing fruits since 2016. Last year, passion fruit, bananas and dragon fruit, along with chili, fetched the company VND1.4 trillion ($60.37 million), or around 84 percent of its revenue. Its main markets are China and Thailand.