Hau Giang Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company, DHG Pharma, has completed the procedures to lift the foreign ownership cap from its current rate of 49 per cent to 100 per cent, effectively abolishing the cap altogether.

In a document sent to the State Securities Commission and the HCM Stock Exchange on Wednesday, the company said the lifting of the cap is in accordance with the Ministry of Finance’s Circular 123/2015/TT-BTC, dated August 18, 2015, providing guidance on foreign investment activities in Viet Nam’s securities market.

The foreign ownership limit for DHG shares has been officially adjusted up to 100 per cent from July 4, 2018.

After the company’s information was disclosed, it said it had received requests for buying DHG Pharma shares from Japan’s Taisho Pharmaceutical Co Ltd.

Taisho currently holds 32,606,096 shares with voting rights, which is equivalent to 24.94 per cent of the charter capital of DHG Pharma. This deal was made in 2016.

Taisho plans to buy 9,232,647 additional DHG shares with voting rights, or 7.06 per cent, bringing its total to 41,838,743 shares, accounting for 32 per cent of DHG Pharma’s charter capital.

The proposed offer price is VND120,000 (US$5.15) per share. At this price, Taisho is expected to pay more than VND1.1 trillion in cash for this transaction.

The purchase must be completed within 30-60 days after receiving written approval from the State Securities Commission on the offer.

Taisho is currently the second-largest sharesholder of DHG Pharma, just behind the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) which holds 43.31 per cent of charter capital. It is one of the pharmaceutical companies with the largest market share of over-the-counter medicines in Japan.

DHG Pharma plans to earn net revenue of more than VND4 trillion in 2018, equivalent to the 2017 result. However, it expects to raise pre-tax profit by 6.7 per cent to VND768 billion. — VNS