TIẾNG VIỆT Ho Chi Minh City’s largest State-owned company submits plan to sell 35% stake
Satra is the operator of Binh Dien market, the bigest wholesale market of Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Satra.
The operator of Vietnam’s Binh Dien wholesale market, the biggest of its kind in the country and major shareholder of beer maker Heineken is expected to proceed the equitisation once the plan is approved by the government.
Satra will also sell entire its controlling stakes in several subsidiaries including Ho Chi Minh City Rubber Company, Saigon Petroleum, Saigon Southwest Trading, Saigon Phương Trang Trading, and Saigon Sundries Electric Appliances.
The company will also withdraw from Sai Gon-Ha Noi Commercial Joint Stock Bank and Saigon Bank for Industry and Trade Commercial Joint Stock Bank, according to information compiled by Viet Nam News.
Satra will also represent the Government to hold more than 50 per cent of capital in its associate firms after those companies are privatized.
In the leading food processor Vissan, State capital will account for 67.76 per cent of the capital after equalization. The figures are 90 percent at Ngoc Dong Food Co Ltd, 55.68 percent at Ho Chi Minh City General Material Import Export JSC and 51 percent at Binh Dien Company.
Current State ownership in those firms is not mentioned in the statement.
According to the group’s representative, the company has not sold financial assets that were bought prior to 2020 because it is waiting for the 2018-20 restructuring plan to be approved.
The company will sell its financial investments when the city authorities approve its restructuring plan.
Whether the plan is approved or not, recent developments show Satra has lagged behind the Government’s plan to sell all State capital in State-owned enterprises by the end of 2020.
In 2017-20, the Government, ministries and large-cap corporations have to cut ownership in 283 SOEs but they have completed doing so in just 171 companies. Ninety-two firms are still awaiting their equitisation plans being approved.
Satra has not released its full-year financial report for 2019. In the first six months of last year, Satra posted a 7.45 per cent increase in total revenue, which reached VND3.95 trillion ($166.5 million).
However, its six-month post-tax profit fell 20 per cent year-on-year to nearly VND1.95 trillion ($82.2 million).
Source: Viet Nam News
