Starting price for Vinamilk sale set at $6.6 each: state investment firm

By Reuters   November 1, 2017 | 11:41 pm PT
The sale is expected on November 10 and would reduce the state ownership in Vinamilk, Vietnam’s biggest listed firm, to 36 percent.

Vietnam’s State Capital Investment Corporation said on Wednesday it aims to sell a 3.33 percent stake in dairy firm Vinamilk at a starting price of VND150,000 ($6.61) a share.

The sale, expected on November 10, is part of the government’s plan to divest from state-owned enterprises and if successful would reduce the state ownership in Vinamilk, Vietnam’s biggest listed firm, to 36 percent, enough to retain veto rights.

The price must not be lower than the starting price or the floor price of Vinamilk shares on the day of the sale, state investment company SCIC said in a statement published on its website.

SCIC’s chairman has said the sale could fetch VND6.5 trillion to VND7 trillion ($286.3 million-$308.4 million).

The November sale will be absent of some of the restrictions applied to last year’s sale, such as a purchase cap on each individual investor, State Capital Investment Corp Chairman Nguyen Duc Chi said at a media briefing last month.

In December, the state investor offered to sell 9 percent of Vinamilk but sold only 5.4 percent to two investors - both units of existing shareholder Fraser and Neave Ltd.

Investors looking to gain a degree of control over Vinamilk were also deterred by the size of stake on offer. The government initially planned to sell its entire 44.7 percent stake.

The government is trying to divest from hundreds of state-owned enterprises, including brewers Hanoi Beer Alcohol and Beverage JSC (Habeco) and Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage Corp (Sabeco) where it owns $7.8 billion worth of shares by market value.

 
 
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