VietNamNet Bridge - The Committee for managing and supervising state capital and assets will have the function of investing in enterprises and managing the asset portfolio. 

The draft decree on the rights and responsibilities of agencies representing the state’s ownership in enterprises compiled by the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) mentions a noteworthy issue: the establishment of a committee in charge of supervising and managing the state’s capital and assets at state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

Under the draft decree, SOEs will be put under the management of the committee instead of under the control of ministries and branches as currently applied.

MPI has also listed 30 enterprises to be transferred to committee management. These include nine out of 10 economic groups (excluding economic group Viettel, a military company) and 21 general corporations now under the management of the Ministries of Industry and Trade (MOIT), Transport (MOT), Agriculture & Rural Development (MARD), Finance (MOF), Information & Communication (MIC), Construction (MOC) and Health (MOH).

The Committee for managing and supervising state capital and assets will have the function of investing in enterprises and managing the asset portfolio.

Analysts noted that 12 enterprises on the list, including six economic groups and six general corporations, belong to MOIT.

The most profitable businesses all belong to MOIT.

A government report on the business performance of SOEs in 2014 submitted to the National Assembly in November 2015 named several SOEs with the revenue of over VND2 trillion. They included PetroVietnam (oil & gas) VND67.846 trillion, EVN (electricity) VND5.351 trillion, VNPT (telecom) VND6.373 trillion, SCIC (financial investment) VND6.009 trillion, VEAM (machinery) VND3.344 trillion, ACV (airport development) VND3.308 trillion, VRG (rubber) VND2.873 trillion, and Vinacomin (coal mining) VND2.816 trillion.

A question has been raised about the fate of the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) which also has the function of ‘managing and supervising the state’s capital in enterprises.  

Sources said the ‘super-committee’, once established, will also control SCIC which has similar functions.

According to CafeF, the total assets of the enterprises to be transferred to the committee are valued at VND2,200 trillion, or $100 billion, which is equal to half of Vietnam’s GDP. Their total stockholder equity is VND850 trillion, or $38 billion.

Of these, the two important economic groups in the energy sector – PetroVietnam and the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) – alone account for 2/3 of the total stockholder equity and half of total assets.

However, analysts noted that the figures only show asset value on books, while they do not truly reflect real value at the moment. 

This also happens with SCIC (the State Capital Investment Corporation). Though the value of the listed shares held by the super-corporation is VND100 trillion, the book value is just VND12.5 trillion.

Chi Mai