Foreign ownership at Vinamilk to be unlimited

HCM City (VNA) – The Vietnam Diary Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk) will remove the maximum foreign ownership limit of its shares, Chairwoman of Vinamilk’s board of directors Le Bang Tam has said.

The decision on foreign ownership will be officially announced to the shareholders once relating legal procedures are completed, Tam said at the annual meeting of the firm’s shareholders on May 21.

Under current regulations, businesses just need a resolution of the board of directors, instead of shareholders’ approval, to extend foreign ownership to 100 percent.

CEO Mai Kieu Lien said how to maintain and protect Vinamilk’s brand names is her biggest concern when the foreign ownership of its stakes is not limited.

Vinamilk has a market capitalisation of over 7.5 billion USD, which includes 7 billion USD worth of brand name. Hence, if foreign investors want to buy its shares, it is mainly due to its brand name.

Meanwhile, the divestment of the State’s capital from Vinamilk depends on the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC), whose shares at the firm are equivalent to over 45 percent of Vinamilk’s charter capital, the board of directors said.

Vinamilk’s targeted revenue of 44.5 trillion VND (almost 2 billion USD) this year, rising by 11 percent, is assessed as too low when taking into account the figure in 2015 and also still far under the targeted 3 billion USD in 2017.

In 2015, the firm posted revenue of more than 40 trillion VND (1.79 billion USD) and after-tax profit of 7.77 trillion VND (348.17 million USD), representing a respective annual increases of 14 percent and 28 percent.-VNA