VietNamNet Bridge - State-owned enterprises are finding it difficult to sell their stake in their finance, banking and real estate companies.

The Electricity of Vietnam’s (EVN) share auction slated for June 4 has been canceled because of no interest. EVN still holds 11.5 million ABS shares, or 29 percent of the chartered capital of An Binh Securities Company.

The failure of the share sale campaigns launched by SOEs was foreseeable. Too many SOEs want to disinvest from non-core business fields as requested by the government, thus leading to an oversupply of shares. 

Meanwhile, the stock market is no longer the investment channel for people who have idle money.

In early June 2015, Vinaconex failed to implement a plan to sell 6 percent of shares at the Construction Company No 15 (V15). V15 has been suspended from transactions since May 11. 

Prior to that, in April, Vinaconex resigned to sell 45 percent of V15 shares at the surprisingly low price of VND1,000 per share.

The Hanoi Housing Development Corporation (Handico) in 2013 could not sell HBS shares of the Hoa Binh Securities Company, even though it accepted to lower the price from VND14,000 to VND6,800 per share.

Vinacomin, the Vietnam Coal and Mineral Industries Group, has withdrawn capital from SHB-Vinacomin, an insurance company. Some share auctioning sections were canceled because there was only one investor.

The Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines) also reported it was meeting difficulties trying to disinvest from subsidiaries because of the stagnant stock market, which caused weak liquidity.

An analyst said that ABS securities’ shares were no longer attractive to investors. 

Many companies have shut down after long periods of taking losses. The list of top 10 securities brokers does not include ABS. 

As such, the future of EVN’s plan to sell ABS shares to take back VND100 billion worth of the investment capital it poured into An Binh is still uncertain. 

Meanwhile, EVN only has six more months ahead to complete the capital withdrawal.

Vinaconex sold 45 percent of V15 shares of the 60 percent of shares it held. However, it will find it difficult to sell the remaining 6 percent. 

Deloitte, an auditing firm, has declined to comment on V15’s financial report. The shares have been suspended from transactions and they are facing a compulsory delisting. 

As for Handico, though it has continuously lowered selling prices, it still cannot sell the remaining 1.25 million HBS shares and continues being an unwilling shareholder of the securities company.

Manh Ha