Tuesday, August 25, 2026, 16:42 GMT+7

Foreign funds buy nearly 5mn more PNJ shares after diamond case findings in Vietnam

A group of foreign investors affiliated with T. Rowe Price Associates has purchased more than 4.85 million additional shares of Phu Nhuan Jewelry JSC (PNJ), raising its stake in the Vietnamese jewelry retailer to 6.02 percent.

PNJ said on Tuesday that the transactions were carried out during the August 19 trading session.

Among the 21 related foreign funds and investors, most of the purchases were made by funds under the T. Rowe Price Global Value group.

Specifically, Select Investment Series III SICAV - T. Rowe Price Global Value Equity Fund bought more than 1.4 million shares.

T. Rowe Price Global Value Equity Fund acquired 588,400 shares, while T. Rowe Price OEIC Global Value Equity Fund purchased nearly 1.9 million shares.

TRP SICAV Global Value Equity Fund bought nearly 2.7 million shares.

Following the transactions, the foreign shareholder group increased its holdings in PNJ from nearly 26 million shares to more than 30.8 million shares, raising its ownership from 5.07 percent to 6.02 percent of the company’s charter capital.

The transactions came after investigators released preliminary findings in a case involving more than 28,000 seized diamonds.

Investigators said the stones included both natural and synthetic diamonds and determined that Dang Ngoc Thao, director of PNJ-LAB, and several employees had colluded with some Indian nationals to smuggle diamonds from Hong Kong into Vietnam.

However, the diamonds were sold to individual customers and were not distributed through PNJ’s retail system.

Authorities also found that diamonds sold through PNJ’s system had sufficient import documents and proof of origin, with the company’s import and distribution procedures complying with regulations.

The T. Rowe Price group had recently become a major shareholder in PNJ after raising its ownership above five percent.

It is not the only foreign investor group increasing its exposure to PNJ this month.

A group including Vanguard International Value Fund and funds managed by Sprucegrove also recently lifted its combined stake above five percent.

PNJ ended Tuesday session at VND42,650 ($1.63) per share, with 22.6 million shares changing hands.

The stock has gained about 36 percent from its July 24 low of VND30,750 ($1.17), but remains around 50 percent below its January peak of more than VND84,000 ($3.19).

PNJ plans to hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders in October, with August 25 set as the record date.

The meeting is expected to consider adjustments to the company’s 2026 business plan based on updated operating conditions.

PNJ has faced heightened scrutiny since early July, when Dang Ngoc Thao, former director of its gemstone certification subsidiary P-Lab, was arrested over an alleged cross-border diamond smuggling ring involving more than 28,000 stones.

PNJ chairwoman Cao Thi Ngoc Dung later said the smuggled diamonds had not entered the company’s distribution system and that PNJ imported diamonds only through official channels.

The company subsequently set up a special supervisory team, hired an international firm to assess diamond quality, and introduced measures to manage customer buybacks and cash flow.

The turmoil also weighed on PNJ’s second-quarter results, with the company reporting a net loss of VND283 billion ($10.7 million) on revenue of VND8.484 trillion ($322 million).

PNJ attributed the loss mainly to prudent provisioning rather than weakness in its core business.