Vietnam Airlines among 53 key state firms to be equitised
HANOI - Vietnam will partially equitise its national airline next year and also sell shares in more than 50 major state-owned enterprises by 2010, the communist government has announced.
Vietnam Airlines, one of the most profitable state owned enterprises (SOEs), will be equitised in 2008 under a decision signed by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung last week, the government said on its official website. Officials have said in the past that the Vietnamese government will maintain a controlling stake in the flag-carrier and other key SOEs, 15 of which will go public next year out of 53 set for equitisation by 2010. Vietnam Airlines, which last month joined the International Air Transport Association, maintains direct air links with 24 destinations worldwide and offers code-sharing flights to three others.
The Vietnam Textile and Apparel Group is also set to become part-equitised by next year, to be followed by the Paper Corporation, Steel Corporation and Northern Foodstuff Corporation in 2009, the government said. The Vietnam Cement Corporation and Chemical Corpration will go public in 2010, said the government in a statement.The communist nation started modest SOE reforms in the 1980s and has vowed to speed up the process to make its industrial and farm sectors internationally competitive as Vietnam joins the World Trade Organisation on January 11.
Vietnam's stock market in Ho Chi Minh City is small by regional standards but witnessed spectacular growth in 2006, expanding from a total value of around 500 million dollars in January to about 9 billion dollars now.
Agence France Presse - January 2, 2007
Vietnam to Partially Privatize 71 Large State-Owned Enterprises by 2010
HANOI - Vietnam's prime minister has approved a list of 71 major state-owned enterprises, including national carrier Vietnam Airlines, that will be partially privatized between now and the year 2010, the government said Tuesday.
The decision, made last week but just announced, will require the companies on the list to work out their plans to sell equity shares to the public and submit them to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung for his approval, the government said on its Web site.
Vietcombank and Vietnam Insurance Corp. are among the companies that will offer shares to the public this year; 26 others, including Vietnam Airlines, will go public in 2008. Another 19 will offer shares in 2009 and six more by 2010.
The government will maintain a controlling stake of at least 51 percent in each of the companies.
Tran Dinh Hung, an official with Vietnam Airlines, one of the country's largest enterprises, said the carrier's board of directors will meet this month to work out its plan.
The airline plans to sell between 10 percent to 20 percent of its shares to the public, he said.
"We will be more efficient and more dynamic after equitization," he said. Currently the company is under direct control of the prime minister.
Vietnam has about 1,900 state-owned enterprises, down from some 12,000 before the country launched the Doi Moi or renovation process in the Mid 1980s.
The Associated Press - January 2, 2007
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