The Ministry of Transport has just ratified the list of strategic investors in Airport Corporation of Vietnam, appointing Aeroports de Paris as the sole candidate.

According to a source of VIR, Airport Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) is in the process of choosing a consulting contractor to start negotiations with Aeroports de Paris to sell a strategic stake.

“Aeroports de Paris proposed to meet ACV this week to talk about the purchase,” said Vu Anh Minh, head of the Department of Company Management under the the Ministry of Transport (MoT).

According to Minh, in the second quarter of 2016, the two sides are going to finish negotiating the main points. The sale is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year. 

Besides, on April 1, ACV is going to start operating in the joint stock company model, as announced earlier. The first shareholders’ meeting will be on March 16, 2016.

According to the plan ratified by the prime minister, ACV is going to sell part of the state stake and more shares in order to bolster its chartered capital to VND22.4 trillion ($1 billion). The company will thus be one of the biggest in Vietnam in terms of chartered capital.

The state is going to hold 75 per cent of this newly inflated chartered capital. 1.4 per cent of the shares will be sold to employees at a concessional price, while 0.13 per cent will be sold to the labour union. The stake on offer to the strategic investor is 20 per cent. A 3.47 per cent stake, equal to 77.8 million shares, will be made available to the public. In mid-December 2015 all 77.8 million ACV shares offered to the public were sold at an average bidding price of VND14,334 ($64 US cent). 

ACV was established in 2012 as a result of the merger between three airport corporations in the north, south, and central Vietnam. ACV has one of the largest capitals in the field of transport infrastructure. It currently manages 22 civil airports and has three subsidiaries. It is also an investor in ten airport operations services companies.

Aeroports de Paris owns and manages fourteen civil airports and airfields in the Île-de-France (Paris) area. It provides passengers, airlines, and cargo operators, as well as couriers with facilities and other related services. It had a shareholders’ equity of $4.81 billion as of December 31, 2014, with the French government being the controlling shareholder, holding a 50.6 per cent stake.