Investor pays $395.8 mln for 3.33 pct of Vietnam's Vinamilk - exchange (updated)

Fraser and Neave

10/11/2017 11:51

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    By Mi Nguyen 
    HANOI, Nov 10 (Reuters) - An overseas institutional investor 
paid $395.8 million on Friday to buy 3.33 percent of Vietnamese 
dairy firm Vinamilk  VNM.HM , the country's biggest listed 
company, the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange said on its website. 
    The stake sale, part of the Vietnam government's plan to 
divest state-owned enterprises, reduced its ownership in 
Vinamilk to 36 percent, enough to retain veto rights.  
    The exchange did not name the investor, which won the 
auction after bidding 186,000 dong ($8.19) per share. Analysts 
said this was much higher than the minimum price set earlier by 
Vietnam's state investment firm SCIC, which supervised the stake 
sale.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1NF4N7 
    SCIC deputy director Nguyen Chi Thanh said in an online 
statement that the sale was "successful beyond expectation".   
    The share sale met high demand from 19 investors in Vietnam 
and overseas, after the state investor removed some of the 
restrictions applied to a similar sale last year.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1MR26D 
    Vinamilk is among a handful of state assets to attract 
significant interest from foreign investors as the government 
works to reform state-owned enterprises. The list includes top 
brewers Habeco  BHN.HM  and Sabeco  SAB.HM , where privatisation 
progress has been slow.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1M81XO 
    "The share price was very high in comparison to others in 
Vietnam's stock market. But this deal would be beneficial for 
setting prices of other stake sales such as Sabeco and Habeco," 
said Nguyen The Minh, a deputy research director at Saigon 
Securities Incorp.  
    Vinamilk shares hit an all-time high of 173,800 dong in 
trading on Friday.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1NG33E  
    The company said its Q3 net profit rose 5.46 percent from a 
year earlier to 2.69 trillion dong ($118.4 million). 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1MK21S 
 
($1 = 22,713 dong) 
 
 (Reporting by Mi Nguyen; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman 
and Adrian Croft) 
 ((mi.nguyen@thomsonreuters.com; +84 24 38259623; Reuters 
Messaging: mi.nguyen.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: VINAMILK INVESTOR/