A Hapro retail store in Quang Ninh Province. After the firm IPO's in March 2018, SOEs' equitisation has lagged behind schedule as issues related to land use right certificates remain the most difficult challenge for both regulators and businesses. — Photo baodauthau.vn Issues related to land use right continue to be obstacles to the State-owned enterprises' process of evaluating the businesses and share prices and executing their equitisation plans, experts said at a meeting on Thursday. According to the Ministry of Finance, 35 of total 127 State-owned enterprises (SOEs) targeted by Decision 991, which was issued by the Prime Minister in July 2017, have executed their equitisation plans for the 2017-20 period. At the same time, 88 of 403 SOEs have sold the required State stakes in their capital in accordance with the Prime Minister’s Decision 1232 issued August 2017. At this pace, Government agencies and SOEs have lagged behind the schedule and land use is blamed for the … [Read more...] about Land issues continue hindering SOEs’ equitisation
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SOE concept a focus of law discussion
SOE concept a focus of law discussion (illustration photo) Right after the conclusion of the 14th National Assembly’s eighth session, the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) gathered businesses, state agencies, economists, and lawyers at last week’s workshop to get their comments on the public’s most-noted issues regarding the draft amendments to the Law on Enterprises 2014 and the Law on Investment 2014. Currently, various issues would need to be solved, such as protection of individual shareholders, the stake-holding of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), household businesses, new investment mechanisms and incentives, and SOE acquisitions. “It is urgent for Vietnam to amend the laws due to emergence of new economic models, wide impacts of Industry 4.0, and stiffening competition from regional countries like Thailand, Malaysia, and China which have revised the regulations to attract international backers,” stated MPI Deputy Minister Vu Dai Thang. … [Read more...] about SOE concept a focus of law discussion
Retail, consumer goods, and real estate will lead 2018 M&A market
In a decade since the first Vietnam M&A Forum was launched in 2008, the M&A market has recorded 4,353 deals worth $48.8 billion. In 2017, the market was 10-times as large as in 2009. Thailand-based ThaiBev buying 53.59 per cent of domestic Sabeco’s shares for $4.8 billion is the main reason behind the jump. Accordingly, the deal made up nearly 50 per cent of the total value of $10.2 billion posted in 2017. Over time, M&A deals in Vietnam were of mainly small scale, with about VND100-120 billion ($4.4-5.3 million) per deal, while larger deals came mostly from foreign investors. In addition, foreign investors’ appetite to buy has been increasing recently. In 2017, the rate of foreign and domestic purchasers was 91.8 and 8.2 per cent, respectively. Over the past few years, Southeast Asian investors, especially those from Thailand, have enhanced their presence in the Vietnamese M&A market. For instance, the retail sector recorded deals between Central Group on … [Read more...] about Retail, consumer goods, and real estate will lead 2018 M&A market
Efficient resource utilization may help Vietnam GDP grow 9-10%
The public capital must be allocated based on market principles, said an expert. More efficient utilization of resources would help Vietnam achieve annual GDP growth of 9 – 10%, equivalent to that of Japan and South Korea during their economic booming periods, according to Nguyen Dinh Cung, former director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM). Efficient allocation and utilization of resources should be the core issue during Vietnam’s economic restructuring, said Cung in an interview with the governmental portal. Cung added the incremental capital-output ratio (ICOR) showed signs of improvements, but remained at modest level of 6, while that of South Korea and Japan at their similar phases of development was only at 4 and 3, respectively. ICOR explains the relationship between the level of investment made in the economy and the consequent increase in GDP. The higher the ICOR, the lower the productivity of capital or the marginal efficiency of … [Read more...] about Efficient resource utilization may help Vietnam GDP grow 9-10%
Foreign investors turn to M&A to increase SOE holdings
The M&A scene is heating up around state-owned firms SCG wants to acquire more stake in Binh Minh Plastics Thailand’s SCG, through its subsidiary Nawaplastic Industry Co., Ltd., expressed interested in buying 818,609 shares in Binh Minh Plastic JSC (BMP) to increase its holdings to 50.89 per cent, equalling 41.66 million shares. The transaction is expected to occur between April 4 and May 3. Earlier on March 19, State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) completed the handover of 24.14 million BMP shares to Nawaplastic, after the Thai firm won at the auction organised on March 10. As a result, Nawaplastic spent approximately VND2.329 trillion ($102.33 million) to buy 24.139 of the 24.159 million shares on offer at the initial price of VND96,500 ($4.24). The deal increased Nawaplastic’s holdings in BMP to 49.9 from 20.4 per cent. SCG expressed its ambition to increase presence in the domestic plastic market by buying into BMP and Tien Phong Plastic JSC, which are two … [Read more...] about Foreign investors turn to M&A to increase SOE holdings
