August 28, 2020
The Ministry of Industry and Trade and the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) held a handover ceremony of the right to represent the state ownership at the Beer – Alcohol – Beverage Corporation Saigon (Sabeco).
According to the signed handover minutes, the value of state investment in Sabeco transferred to SCIC is 2,308,765,470,000 VND (USD 99.7m), accounting for 36% of Sabeco’s charter capital. The number of shares held by the State is 230,876,547 shares.
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Cao Quoc Hung handing over state ownership representative in Sabeco to SCIC Chairman Nguyen Duc Chi
Speaking at the handover ceremony, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Cao Quoc Hung said that the related work between the Ministry of Industry and Trade and SCIC has been clarified in the spirit of ensuring not to disrupt production and business activities of enterprises, comply with the current regulations. The Ministry of Industry and Trade will coordinate with SCIC and request SCIC to actively support the business to grow, thereby increasing the value of state capital in the enterprise.
On behalf of SCIC, Chairman of the Board of Directors Nguyen Duc Chi thanked the leaders of the Ministry of Industry and Trade for their attention, guidance and active support in the process of transferring state capital from enterprises under the Ministry of Industry and Trade to SCIC, at the same time strongly that SCIC always applies corporate governance in the best way associated with close coordination with shareholders based on the principles of market economy, ensuring state capital is preserved and promoted.
The transfer of state capital in Sabeco is implemented in accordance with the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 908 / QD-TTg dated June 29, 2020 approving the list of enterprises with state capital to be divested until the end of the year. 2020. Sabeco is the first enterprise according to Decision No. 908 / QD-TTg transferred to SCIC to divest all state capital in this enterprise. Up to now, SCIC has received 1,068 enterprises with a total state capital of 21,995,863 billion dong (USD 949 bill).
Sabeco, producer of the popular brands Bia Saigon and 333, is Vietnam’s largest brewer, estimated to control over 40% of the local beer market. In 2017 a controlling stake of the company was purchased by Bangkok based ThaiBev, best known for their Thai brand Chang beer.
In December 2019 there were rumours ThaiBev were trying to offload their interest in Sabeco through a proposed 2020 Initial Public Offering on the Singapore stock exchange of their whole brewing business (valuing it at US $12 billion). This was seen by market analysts as a possible feint to find a buyer for their highly valued Vietnam asset.
