NEW YORK, Aug. 07, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PHI Group, Inc., (www.phiglobal.com) (OTCQB:PHIL), a company focused on mergers and acquisitions and investments in natural resources, energy, agriculture and special situations, announced today has signed a Business Cooperation Agreement with TNB Vietnam JSC, a Vietnamese company located in the Mekong Delta that specializes in cultivating and processing “forest” bitter melon (momordica charantia).

According to the agreement, TNB and PHI Group plan to facilitate mutual growth and expansion including but not limited to:

• Purchase of finished forest bitter melon products from TNB for distribution and sale in the U.S., Europe, China and other select international markets under PHI Group’s private labels;
  
  
• Purchase of semi-processed ingredients from TNB in order to manufacture other end products for export markets;
  
  
• Strategic alliance by acquisition of equity interest in TNB and/or exchange of ownership between TNB and PHI via stock swap; and
  
  
• Co-developing and cultivating forest bitter melon as well as manufacturing and marketing its products in the U.S. and other international markets with potential for long-term growth.

Bitter melon is used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat Type 2 diabetes and is used for detoxification, stabilizing blood glucose, and reducing risk of complications from diabetes, high blood pressure and blood fat.  It provides iron, twice the beta-carotene of broccoli, twice the potassium of bananas and twice the calcium of spinach. It also contains high amounts of fiber, phosphorous and Vitamins C, B1, B2, and B3. 

TNB currently grows forest bitter melon in several provinces in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta and sells its products to the Vietnamese and overseas markets, including tea bags made from forest bitter melon, herbal forest bitter melon tea, forest bitter melon capsules, and forest bitter melon pills.  TNB is also in the process of developing other new products from forest bitter melon.

Ha Trinh, Founder and Chairman of TNB Vietnam, stated, “We look forward to building a long-term, solid relationship with PHI Group and would like to start executing definitive transactions very soon.”

Henry Fahman, CEO of PHI Group, said, “We are very impressed with TNB’s management, business experience and capabilities in this special field and strongly believe our cooperation will create significant mutual benefits.  Additionally, TNB can play an instrumental role in our organic forest bitter melon project in the US in the next growing season.”

On another note, during the last two months PHI Group has also been very active in our M&A efforts.  We have been negotiating other potential acquisitions and strategic alliances in the fields of agriculture, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, precious metals, infrastructure, construction, building materials and energy and expect to announce some important transactions in the coming weeks.

About PHI Group
PHI Group (www.phiglobal.com) primarily focuses on mergers and acquisitions and invests in select industries and special situations that may substantially enhance shareholder value.  PHI Group also provides M&A  and consulting services through its wholly owned subsidiary, PHI Capital Holdings, Inc. (www.phicapitalholdings.com)

About TNB Vietnam
TNB Vietnam JSC is a Vietnamese company specializing in growing forest bitter melon and making special products from this fruit. The Company currently sells its products in Vietnam, Korea, Japan and other international markets. http://www.tnbvietnam.vn/, www.mudaru.com 

Safe Harbor
This news release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected on the basis of such forward-looking statements pursuant to the “safe-harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.