The State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) plans to reduce its stake in 200 enterprises, in which it represents the State as a shareholder. The SCIC is now managing State stakes in many small enterprises in which State holdings were unnecessary, said Minister of Finance Vu Van Ninh.

By 2012, the SCIC should only hold controlling stakes interests in about 100 enterprises in which State holdings have been deemed indispensable, Ninh said.

The divestiture of shares, to be carried out during the latter half of this year, is part of an overall capital restructuring plan under which the SCIC will eliminate its holdings in enterprises in which State holds a minority interest, aiming to concentrate capital in business sectors in which the State role is more significant, said SCIC deputy director Le Song Lai.

The present process of selling State-owned shares has been complex. The SCIC typically auctions shares at the stock exchange in order to ensure fairness and transparency, but at a time of volatile share prices, this method has proven time-consuming and caused the SCIC to miss out on some good share prices.

To speed up the process, the SCIC would propose that sales of stakes value at 10 billion VND or more take place through stock brokerages or the enterprises themselves, Lai said.

The sales could also take place through bidding on bundles of shares from different enterprises, through negotiated trading for stakes valued at less than 500 million VND (28,080 USD, or by trading shares it holds for those in other companies in a similar sector.

The SCIC has already sold 229.9 billion VND (12.9 million USD) worth of shares in 66 enterprises in the first six months of this year, eliminating the State stake in 60 of those companies, according to SCIC general director Tran Van Ta. During the period, it also participated in shareholder meetings of 650 enterprises and invested capital in such major projects as the Quang Ninh Thermal-power Plan and Long Thanh Airport, Ta said./.