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State-run brewer to press ahead with share sale
State-owned brewer Hanoi Beer-Alcohol-Beverages Corporation, the maker of Hanoi Beer, said it will proceed with an initial public offering (IPO) on March 27 despite the recent bear market.
The Hanoi-based brewer, known as Habeco, will issue 34,770,000 shares to investors at an initial price of VND50,000 (US$3.20) a share.
Habeco appointed Danish beer company Carlsberg, who will buy about 10 percent of stake in the local brewer, as its strategic partner.
“Carlsberg said if there is any unsold shares left after the auction, it will buy them all at the initial price,”said Habeco’s general director Nguyen Van Viet, adding that the Danish brewer’s commitment proved the initial price was very attractive.
“However, Carlsberg’s partnership plan, which will result in Habeco having higher foreign ownership, will have to be approved by the government,” Viet said.
He also said Habeco’s float, which has been planned for long time, was the start of the firm’s equitization plan.
The process of public companies becoming private is known as equitization.
Local brokerages forecast
Habeco’s IPO will be a fizzer as manyretail investors won’t want to participate in the auction when the stock market is tumbling.
The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange’s VN-Index has lost 41 percent of its value this year, making it the second worst performing index ahead of the 15-member OMX Iceland Index.
Analysts estimate the share auction could result in shares being sold at between VND50,000 and VND52,000 each.
Hanoi Beer-Alcohol-Beverages’ March 27 auction is the next planned IPO, following share sales earlier this year by Vietcombank and Saigon Beer-Alcohol-Beverages Corp.
Thanhnien
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