The Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) has announced its intention to sell nearly 4 million shares with the stock code SAS for its subsidiary Southern Airports Services JSC (Sasco). 

From December 6 to January 4, ACV will register to sell 3.95 million SAS shares from a total of 67 million SAS shares owned by ACV, equivalent to 51 per cent of the charter capital of Sasco.

SAS shares now are trading at a price of VND26,000 ($1.17) per share. At this price, ACV is expected to gross VND100 billion ($4.4 million).

More than 2.17 billion shares of ACV have officially traded on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) since November 21, with a reference price on the first day of VND25,000 ($1.1) per share. Ten days later, the price rose to VND41,000 ($1.84) per  share, an increase of 64 per cent.   

ACV also divested a part of its capital at Saigon Ground Services JSC (SAGS) before trading on UPCoM. ACV sold 132 million shares at SAGS, reducing the ownership percentage from 54.62 per cent to 48.02 per cent, equivalent to 9.6 million shares.  

Sasco was established in 1993 with an initial governmental capital of 9.3 billion. After more than 20 years, from an enterprise established during the subsidy period, Sasco has made several impressive changes in accordance with the market mechanism to keep up with international trends in the field of airport commercial services.

ACV is a joint stock company operating under the form of the parent - subsidiary company, with the State holding a majority stake. In October 2015 the government approved its equitization plan, with State ownership to fall to 75 per cent.

ACV manages 22 airports throughout Vietnam, of which seven are international and 15 domestic, with 21 being directly managed by the corporation, and it also has a range of joint ventures with other companies.

Officially becoming a joint stock company in March, ACV has charter capital of over VND21 trillion ($940 million), equal to 2.177 billion shares at a price of VND10,000 ($0.44) each. The government still holds 95.4 per cent.

Its targets for 2016 include welcoming 73 million passengers, 53 million of which will be domestic, a 12.4 per cent increase against 2015, and to cater to 516,000 commercial flights. Revenue is targeted at almost VND12.1 trillion ($541.9 million) and pre-tax profit at over VND2 trillion ($89.5 million).

VN Economic Times