Vietnam Airlines to complete negotiations with investor this year

Hanoi (VNA) - The national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines plans to complete its final negotiations with a potential strategic investor this month, General Director Pham Ngoc Minh told a recent conference.

The December 9 conference on reviewing five years of business renovation was held by the Ministry of Transport.

Minh said the strategic investor was foreign, but he did not directly identify it.

He also said the strategic investor had business potential, ensuring supportive conditions for Vietnam Airlines in creating a business plan and maximising the firm's future interests.

During the negotiation process, Minh shared that the two sides had difficulty negotiating the differences in policies and regulations between the two countries. Therefore, all the pertinent information had to be provided.

"There is no concrete regulation on equitising an airline in Vietnam, so the initial difficulties are inevitable. We are still in negotiations and expect to finish by the end of this month or early next year," Minh said.

The results of the negotiations will be submitted to the Ministry of Transport and the Prime Minister for consideration. An agreement between Vietnam Airlines and its strategic investor is expected to be signed in the first quarter of next year, Minh said.

By the end of September this year, Vietnam Airlines earned 52.5 trillion VND (2.34 billion USD) in revenue, 1.08 trillion VND (48.1 million USD) higher than its target. Of this amount, the pretax profit was more than 1.3 trillion VND (57.9 million USD), an increase of 674 billion VND (30 million USD) compared with the whole of last year when the firm had yet to be equitised.

The firm launched its initial public offering in November 2014 at an average price of 22,300 VND (0.9 USD) per share. Under the equitisation plan, the firm will continue to sell up to 20 percent of its stake for its strategic investor. The price has not yet been announced.-VNA