VietNamNet Bridge - The nation’s leading dairy producer Vinamilk has urged state management agencies to produce a roadmap for the state’s divestment from state-owned companies.

Vinamilk's turnover and post-tax profit 

Vinamilk has sent a dispatch to the Prime Minister and the National Assembly’s Economics and Finance & Budget Committees, offering four proposals related to the state’s divestment of its shares in Vinamilk.

The dairy producer said it believes now is the right time for the State to begin withdrawing capital from Vinamilk: the macroeconomy has become better after a period of recession, while Vietnam has caught attention from international investors after the TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement) was signed by 12 member countries.

While investors are eager to know when the State will begin selling Vinamilk’s stake, the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) has remained silent. Its representative only told the local press that SCIC is considering the time for capital withdrawal.

Vinamilk believes that the state, which holds 45 percent of Vinamilk stakes, should attract big investors by selling stakes in bulks. If so, the sale should be implemented in no more than three campaigns, in which at least 10 percent of the chartered capital is sold.

Vinamilk has also proposed to raise the foreign ownership ratio ceiling to 100 percent from 49 percent, saying that dairy production is not a business field the state needs to invest in.

Vinamilk affirmed that the existence of foreign investors in Vinamilk does not mean that the Vietnamese strong brand would be eliminated. 

Meanwhile, foreign investors would help popularize Vinamilk products in the world market. A high foreign ownership ratio will allow Vinamilk to call for foreign capital more easily when necessary.

This is the first time the proposal was made to state management agencies, after Vinamilk’s managers revealed information to Bloomberg some days ago.

The Vinamilk brand has been assessed by Brand Finance at $1.14 billion.

Regarding the share sale mode, Vinamilk believes that it would be better to sell stakes through auctions to be sure that the sale is carried out in a transparent way and that the sale will not have a big affect on the market.

SCIC now holds VND60 trillion worth of stake in Vinamilk, while only VND42 billion worth of Vinamilk shares are traded daily on the bourse.

A local newspaper two days ago quoted its sources as saying that Fraser & Neave Limited, a beverage group from Singapore, wanted to buy Vinamilk stakes from the State at $4 billion. 

F&N Dairy Investment, a subsidiary of the group, is a shareholder of Vinamilk, holding 11 percent of Vinamilk stakes.

However, F&N has denied this, saying that it has not made any official proposal on the purchase of Vinamilk and SCIC.

Kim Chi