*

Mobile World will remain the controlling shareholder

*

Shares of Mobile World up 5% on Tuesday

*

Vietnam is one of CDH Southeast Asia's priority markets

(Adds deal adviser in paragraph 9, updates shares in paragraph

11, adds comments from Mobile World statement in paragraphs

12-13)

By Yantoultra Ngui and Phuong Nguyen

SINGAPORE/HANOI, April 9 (Reuters) - China's CDH

Investments said on Tuesday it completed an investment for a

minority interest in grocery chain Bach Hoa Xanh, a unit of

Vietnam's biggest retail group by market value, Mobile World

.

The deal's value is 1.8 trillion dong ($72.17 million),

showed a letter to CDH from the Ho Chi Minh City investment

department seen by Reuters.

Mobile World, parent company of Bach Hoa Xanh, said in a

separate statement on Tuesday that the shares sold accounted for

5% of Bach Hoa Xanh's total shares.

Both CDH and Mobile World did not comment on the valuation

of the deal.

The announcement confirms a Reuters report in February

saying that CDH, one of China's biggest alternative investment

firms and also a former Mobile World investor, was in advanced

talks to buy a minority stake in Bach Hoa Xanh.

Beijing-based CDH did not disclose financial details of

the investment but said Mobile World will remain the controlling

shareholder of Bach Hoa Xanh, next to CDH and the company's

management.

"Vietnam is one of CDH Southeast Asia's priority markets,"

said Thomas Lanyi, head of Southeast Asia for CDH.

"Consumer needs are evolving in favor of modern alternatives

to traditional wet markets and Bach Hoa Xanh is ideally

positioned to capture this potential," he said in a statement.

JP Morgan acted as financial advisor to Bach Hoa

Xanh on the deal.

Bach Hoa Xanh, which specialises in selling fresh food and

vegetables, commands a network of around 1,700 stores across

southern and south-central Vietnam, the companies said.

Shares in its parent Mobile World, co-founded and led by

Vietnamese businessman Nguyen Duc Tai, were up 6%, giving it a

market value of around $3 billion, LSEG data showed.

Mobile World said in its separate statement that it didn't

need to sell as much as 20% of Bach Hoa Xanh as initially

planned, with the grocer's positive earnings results and

cashflow turning profitable from 2024.

Mobile World added that the proceeds from the deal will

be used to fund general business operations and the grocery

chain's development plan.

CDH, co-founded by Chairman Wu Shangzhi in 2002 as one of

China's earliest private equity firms, is best known for its

dealmaking in traditional industries such as consumption and

manufacturing.

It has over $27 billion in assets under management and

has been an investor in pork supplier WH Group ( WHGRF ) and

appliance maker Midea Group, its website showed.

($1 = 24,940.0000 dong)