Why SK's 6% of Vingroup is an “entry ticket” to Vietnamese empire

SK Group is building a beachhead in the fast-growing Vietnamese market by forging alliances and paying high multiples for minority stakes. 

Korea’s third-largest conglomerate announced its latest advance on Thursday, saying it had signed a contract to purchase 6.1% of property developer Vingroup for Vnd23.3 trillion $1 billion.

This follows swiftly on from its purchase last year of 9.5% of Masan Group, the second-largest privately owned company in Vietnam after Vingroup, for about $470 million about W530 billion.

Vietnam is Korea’s third-largest trading partner after China and the US. Other big Korean corporate investors in Vietnam include Lotte, Samsung...