Vietnam’s state-run shipping company Vinalines will regain control of Quy Nhon Port in the south of the country after it has paid VND415bn ($17.7m) to buy back a 75% stake in the port.
Vinalines sold its 75% stake in the port to private minerals company Hop Thanh back in 2013. However, the government inspectorate ruled the deal illegal last year as it discovered multiple irregularities in the deal and the equity interest was sold without the government’s approval, and so the government requested Vinalines to buy the shares back.
Vinalines has already appointed a representative to the management board of the port.
Vinalines completed an IPO on the Hanoi Stock Exchange last year with a target to sell a 4.8% stake to strategic investors, however the IPO proved to be a failure with only around 1% of the offered shares sold.
