South Korea’s leading oil company SK Energy announced the purchase of 3.55 million shares or 0.34% stake in Vietnam’s second largest petroleum distributor PetroVietnam Oil (PV Oil), thus becoming the latter’ second largest shareholder. 

With an average price share of VND15,800 (US$0.67), the deal was reportedly worth over VND56 billion (US$2.38 million).

Following the transaction concluded on November 13, SK Energy has increased its shareholding to 54.1 million shares or 5.23% stake in PV Oil, which is second only to PetroVietnam being the state capital representative with 80% stake. 

At the annual general meeting in late July, PV Oil’s shareholders approved the proposal to increase cap on foreign ownership at 6.62%. 

In January , PV Oil successfully sold 20% of its charter capital through an initial public offering (IPO) for VND4.1 trillion (US$184 million) in proceeds, exceeding the government target of raising at least US$122 million. 

Under the firm’s privatization  plan approved by the government, PV Oil’s charter capital is set at VND10.34 trillion (US$440.78 million). Additionally, the oil firm will further offer an additional 44.72% stake to strategic investors through a private placement, resulting in a reduction of state ownership to around 35%. Through this deregulation  process, PVOil is expected to raise a total of US$400 million.

In May, PetroVietnam said in a statement South Korea's SK Energy, Japan's Idemitsu Kosan and two Vietnamese companies have registered as potential buyers of PV Oi’s stake, with demand for the offered shares exceeding supply by nearly three times.

Hanoitimes