Hanoi: Vinalines’ efforts to sell off tranches of its ports via IPOs have been a failure to date. The government has forced the nation’s top line to divest itself of assets as part of restructuring plans.
Less than half the shares made available for Haiphong Port sold last May. Just 7.5% of Quang Ninh’s shares sold in the same month while Nha Trang port’s IPO was even worse with just 6.3% sold. Danang fared a bit better with around 40% of its shares sold, while the nadir was reached last month when just 0.8% of Chan May Port’s shares were sold.
Vinalines said in a report the IPOs had been “below expectations”.
Vinalines’ general director Le Anh Son said the low popularity of the shares was down to the fact that the state was only willing to offload 25% takes in each port.
Another issue has been the reported losses made at most Vietnamese ports in recent years.
A campaign is now underway to try and persuade the government to reduce its stakes in some ports to less than 50% to make the port sales more attractive. [09/01/15]
