The Vietnamese government will revive plans to sell part of its stake in the dairy company Vinamilk.
According to Reuters, the government’s investment vehicle – the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) – will offload a 3.3% stake to take its overall holding from 39.34% to around 36%. The sale could be worth up to VND 7 trillion ($308 million).
It is a more modest offering than the 9% stake the Vietnamese government tried to offload in a share sale last year. Interest in the stake fell short of expectations, with Vinamilk’s largest private investor – Fraser and Neave – the only party keen on acquiring the stake, partly because of challenging market conditions as well as restrictions on the size of the stake that could be acquired.
The chairman of SCIC told Reuters that it was confident of finding investors this time round, but that there was no demand for the state to sell all of its shares in Vinamilk.
Nguyen Duc Chi said: “There are different segments among investors. If we sell all of our shares, it may as well attract only one segment of investors; it’s not guaranteed there will be many interested investors then.”
The government will also press ahead with plans to sell Habeco and Sabeco, which have attracted interest from global brewers including Heineken and Carlsberg.
Plans to privatise Sabeco – the Saigon Alcohol Beer and Beverages Corporation – and Habeco – the Hanoi Alcohol Beer and Beverages Corporation – have been public knowledge for some time. The process has dragged its heels, and attempts from interested parties to commit the Vietnamese government to a definitive timescale have largely failed.
Heineken was thought tomb coveting Sabeco, while Carlsberg is known to be chasing for an increased stake in the Habeco brewery. But rumours that Anheuser-Busch is also interested in Sabeco raises the potential for a lively auction, and will be cause for concern in Copenhagen.
Carlsberg has long coveted Habeco, and chief executive officer Cees ‘t Hart insisted that it ws still ‘hunting’ for a larger stake in the Habeco brewery back in May. Carlsberg already owns 17% in the government-controlled brewery, and wants to increase its holding to a majority stake.
“The process is, if you like, hot,” ‘t Hart told investors after Carlsberg posted first-quarter revenue of DKK 13.7 billion ($2.02 billion).
“As you know, they want to privatise three companies this year. It still seems that they’ll go first for Habeco, but that from time to time changes as well, first Sabeco or first Habeco. Over the last six weeks, I’ve been three times to Vietnam. So, probably that makes a point. But frankly, we do not know the new timing. It’s pretty complicated, cumbersome, but as you can hear, we are hunting to get it.”
Carlsberg had previously sold a brewery in in the southern city of Vung Tau to Heineken, saying that it would focus on its existing operations elsewhere in Vietnam. That gives it scope to move for Habeco, which is based in Hanoi in the north.
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024