A branch of the MB Securities Joint Stock Company in Hanoi (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Leaders of qualifiedState-owned enterprises (SOEs) will face demotions, salary cuts, fines and evencriminal charges if they fail or delay listing on the Unlisted Public CompanyMarket (UPCoM).
These are some of the drastic measures beingconsidered by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and the Government Office (GO) aspart of efforts to speed up equitisation and induce more transparency into theprocess.
Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue has alsoinstructed the MoF and GO to investigate and hand out stiff punishments tobusinesses and commercial banks that do not finalise the procedures despitebeing qualified to list on the UPCoM.
The MoF will compile a list of equitised SOEswhere the State still retains 36 percent or more of its stake, as well as thosewith zero to 36 percent of State capital, though the decision for the latter tobecome listed is contingent on the company’s shareholders.
In the last six months of 2017, any enterprisetardy about going public on the UPCoM will be heavily fined under Circular36/2017/TT-BTC which has been in effect since June 15, 2017.
Companies failing to list or register 12 monthslater than requested by the State Securities Commission of Vietnam will attractfines of 300 million VND to 400 million VND (13,342 USD to 17,790 USD).
The MoF has also asked the Government andresponsible departments and localities to consider disciplinary action againstthe leadership of companies that are dragging their feet on completing listingprocedures.
The disciplinary actions would range fromdemotions, transfers, salary cuts to more serious criminal charges.
The threat of severe action has prompted severalcompanies to hasten their listing procedures. Officials expect a spate ofcompanies being listed in the second half of the year.
In just five days (July 17- 21), 14 companieshave successfully listed their stocks on the HNX, UPCoM and the Ho Chi MinhStock Exchange (HOSE), with a total of more than 500 million shares.
[Equitisation of State-owned enterprises remains sluggish]
On July 20, the Binh Duong Water EnvironmentJoint Stock Company, with stock code BWE, listed 150 million shares on the HOSEat the referential price of 14,300 VND per share (63 cents); while the Viet ThangCorporation, stock code TVT, listed 21 million shares at 35,000 VND per share (1.55USD).
Meanwhile, the PetroVietnam Power Corporation(PV Power) is preparing its initial public offering (IPO) for late next month.The Government is seeking strategic investors for the firm and planning todecrease its holdings to below 50 percent. Around 45 percent of PV Power’stotal shares will go to the strategic investors, while three to four percentwill be reserved for the IPO.
The Deputy PM has ordered that all State-ownedcommercial banks are listed on the UPCoM in order to improve transparency intheir operations and generate more opportunities to raise capital.
As of now, at least 10 banks with a totalcharter capital of 95 trillion VND (4.2 billion USD) plan to be listed on theUPCoM. Meanwhile, the Vietnam Prosperity Joint-Stock Commercial Bank, with achartered capital of 14.06 trillion VND (625 million USD), has registered tolist more than 1.33 billion shares on the HOSE.
In a document published last week, Deputy PM Huealso demanded that a list of 730 equitised companies yet to be listed on theUPCoM as of June 2017 be published on the Government’s online portal. - VNA
VNA
