The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) is taking steps for the sale of 53.59 percent of its stake, equivalent to nearly 343.7 million shares, in the country’s largest brewery Saigon Beer, Alcohol and Beverage Corporation (Sabeco).

Transporting Sabeco beer

The shares, coded SAB, will be auctioned at an initial price of 320,000 VND (14.04 USD) each, the ministry said. 

The auction, which is set to attract great attention from both domestic and foreign investors, will be held on December 18 via open competitive bidding in accordance with relevant regulations.

The MoIT has cooperated with Sabeco, consultant joint ventures and relevant agencies to introduce the auction to domestic and foreign investors through roadshows in Singapore and the UK.

Foreign investors will be allowed to buy up to 247.47 million shares, or 38.59 percent stake in Sabeco. Foreign ownership in Sabeco is limited to a maximum of 49 percent.

Sabeco currently owns 24 manufacturing plants with a total designed capacity of 1.8 billion litres per year, 20 of which are in operation. The remaining four are expected to begin operation in the near future.

The company holds about 41 percent of the nation’s 6.5 billion USD beer market. 

The Ho Chi Minh City Securities Corporation forecasts that by 2017, Sabeco’s net revenue will total 34.6 trillion VND, up 13.4 percent year-on-year, and its post-tax profit will reach 4.9 trillion VND, up 9.4 percent year-on-year.

In the first half of this year, Sabeco’s post-tax profit touched 2.5 trillion VND, up 8 percent year-on-year, of which the parent company’s profit came to 2.4 trillion VND.-VNA