Vinamilk $800 Million Share Sale Set for Dec, Vietjet Prepares IPO
Ho Chi Minh. Vietnam's sputtering privatization drive is set for a major boost next month with shares sales from the country's biggest dairy firm Vinamilk and budget carrier VietJet Air worth a combined $1 billion flagged.
Hanoi has been striving to trim stakes in state-owned enterprises, but progress has been slow given small stakes on offer, sizable state control and concerns about vested interests.
Vietnam's State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) said on Monday (22/11) it would sell a further 9 percent of Vinamilk , worth around $800 million at current market prices, on Dec. 2, adding that it did not have a specific buyer in mind and that the shares would go to the highest bidders.
"We will not pick a strategic investor for this divestment of SCIC and we will publicly announce and create a fair chance for all interested investors," SCIC chairman Nguyen Duc Chi told investors at a roadshow in Ho Chi Minh city.
VietJet has started meeting with investors ahead of a planned $200 million initial public offering to be launched next month, IFR reported on Monday, citing people close to the deal.
The two deals will come on top of a planned market debut for Vietnam's top state-owned brewer Sabeco on Dec. 12
"All three will be bright spots for Vietnam's stock market," Nguyen Thanh Lam, deputy manager at Maybank Kim Eng Securities in Vietnam, said, adding that both foreign and local investors would be interested in the deals.
SCIC, which owns 44.7 percent of Vinamilk, Vietnam's biggest-listed company, will announce a minimum bidding price this week.
The winning per-share bid must also be no lower than Vinamilk's so-called floor price — its effective minimum trading price — on Dec. 2, which would be 7 percent less than its close a day earlier.
Shares in Vinamilk, or Vietnam Dairy Products JSC, as Vinamilk is formally known, finished at 138,500 dong ($6.14) on Monday.
According to Vietnamese media reports, F&N Dairy Investment, which is backed by Thai beer billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi and is Vinamilk's No.2 shareholder with 10.95 percent, has been keen to increase its holding.
But Chi said that the SCIC had not received any proposal from F&N to buy more of the firm. He added that the SCIC had not yet decided when it would sell its remaining shares in Vinamilk.
Morgan Stanley Asia, Vietnam's Saigon Securities and VinaCapital Corporate Finance Vietnam are the advisers for the 9 percent stake sale.
VietJet will pitch its IPO through Nov. 30 and will start taking orders for the deal between Dec. 1 and 12, IFR, a Thomson Reuters publication, said.
VietJet, valued by analysts at between $1 billion and $1.4 billion, is selling a 20 percent stake, it said. Vietjet declined to comment.
Separately, national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines said on Monday it has asked shareholders to register their ownership by late this month as it prepares to list on the Upcom market — which is operated by the Hanoi Stock Exchange. The market requires a lower level of transparency than the regular bourse and limits some trading options.
The shareholder list will be completed on Nov. 30, a spokesman for the Hanoi-based airline said, but there was no immediate information on the date of the debut.
Reuters
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