A production line of the Sai Gon Beer, Alcohol and Beverage Corporation (Sabeco). State divestment of Sabeco helped the State collect about 5 billion USD. (Photo: sabeco.com.vn( Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Capital divestment from State-owned enterprises (SOEs) hadslowed and was still facing difficulties, said Dang Quyet Tien, Directorof the Corporate Finance Department under the Ministry of Finance.
The process needed to be sped up andavoid corruption that led to loss of state capital, he said.
According to the target set by PrimeMinister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the State had been tasked withdivesting from more than 400 SOEs over 2017-2020. In 2018 alone, theState should have divested capital from 181 enterprises, followedby 62 enterprises in 2019.
However, Tien said the progress of Statedivestment had fallen short of the target.
In 2018, the divestment was carried out atonly 54 enterprises, and no more movement had been seen in the earlymonths of 2019, including the 127 enterprises that delayed divestmentin 2018.
Do Van Sinh, permanent member of the EconomicCommittee of the National Assembly, said many businesses could not find a wayto avoid losses from divestment.
He believed that share sales in lots was asuccessful method for capital divestment. State divestment of theSaigon-Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Corporation (Sabeco) helped the State collectabout 5 billion USD, and the deal for Vietnam Dairy Products JointStock Company (Vinamilk) also brought in about 9 trillion VND (385 million USD).
The application of this method could helpfirms avoid losses, Sinh said.
In addition to capital divestment, thevalue of businesses who suffered losses was even more difficult, Tiensaid.
Tien said the process of divestingfrom units with loss-suffering projects was always difficult. For example,Phuong Nam Pulp Mill, a subsidiary of the Vietnam Paper Corporation (Vinapaco),had been put up for auction several times without success.
Another notable problem was that a large part ofpost-equitised enterprises had not registered for trading or listing onthe stock market.
A report by the Ministry of Finance showedthat in 2018, there were 667 enterprises that had already been equitised butnot yet registered for listing on the stock market.
Le Thi Thu Ha, Deputy Director of the SecuritiesOffering Management Department under the State Securities Commission, saidstock listings had not been attached to equitisation process as businesseswere not aware of the benefits of listing shares.
Sluggish listings had affected the opennessand transparency of the market, thus limiting the supervision of enterprises.
According to Deputy Minister of Finance Vu ThiMai, the ministry would direct the State Securities Commission to imposesanctions on equitised firms that did not register to list shareson time.
Land use rights was also another problemsfor divestments, Mai said.
According to banking and finance expert Can VanLuc, the approval process was still slow, leading to a situationthat when a project is approved, the price of assets had alreadychanged due to market conditions, making it difficult for buyersto decide.
Luc said the State should take drasticaction to withdraw capital to mobilise resources for development andinvestment, promoting the country's economic growth and reducing public debt.
In order to help reach divestment targets in2020, Tien said ministries, branches and localities must instruct firms toaccelerate the divestment process.
At the same time, enterprises should set upusage plans for their land in accordance with the law.-VNS/VNA
VNA
