ThaiBev has emerged as the only major bidder for a majority stake in Sabeco, Vietnam’s largest brewer, ahead of a highly anticipated auction for a US$4.8 billion stake in the state-owned beer behemoth set to open yesterday.
Through its domestic unit Vietnam Beverage, Thai Beverage floated a bid for 343.662 million shares, or a 53.59 percent stake in the company, the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade said.
An unnamed domestic individual also sought 20,000 shares, it added.
They were the only two bidders listed.
Sabeco, the nation’s largest brewer, which produces the popular Saigon Special and 333 brands, last month announced that it would sell off a nearly 54 percent stake of the company, but that foreign ownership would be capped at 49 percent.
The company is already 10 percent foreign-owned.
ThaiBev’s Vietnam Beverage is considered a local company.
Sabeco aims to earn at least US$4.8 billion from the sale, which was to begin yesterday afternoon, with share prices set at a minimum of US$14, it said late last month.
That valuation and timing might have kept more potential bidders away, analysts said.
“The valuation in relation to the offering price is quite high,” Viet Capital Securities Joint Stock Company senior research manager Phap Dang said. “It needs strategic investors to justify that kind of valuation.”
“The process from the time of the announcement of the stake sale until now is quite short — that might not be enough time for other companies to do [due diligence] on Sabeco,” he added. “So that might have been a hindrance as well.”
Some observers said the foreign ownership cap of 49 percent might have turned off potential international bidders who sought a majority stake.
The much-delayed sale comes as Vietnam’s cash-strapped government is seeking to raise funds by “equitizing” — its term for privatization — hundreds of state-owned enterprises, including its crown-jewel beer makers.
Although the nation has seen solid economic growth of more than 5 percent over the past five years, public debts have soared to close to 65 percent, the maximum allowed by law.
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