The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has relinquished its role as supervisor of State capital in State-owned enterprises (SOEs) to the Committee for State Capital Management.

Under an agreement signed on Saturday, the MoIT will give control of State capital in six large-cap sector-leading SOEs to the committee.

The six SOEs are the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam or PVN), the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), the Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin or TKV), the Vietnam National Chemical Group (Vinachem), the Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) and the Vietnam National Tobacco Corporation (Vinataba).

The charter capital of PVN is VND281.5 trillion (US$12.5 billion), while the figures for other companies are VND205.4 trillion (EVN), VND35 trillion (Vinacomin), VND13.7 trillion (Vinachem), VND13 trillion (Petrolimex) and VND7.16 trillion (Vinataba).

According to MoIT, the value of the State ownership in the six large SOEs was more than VND555 trillion, more than half of State capital value in the total 19 SOEs the committee is expected to take control of eventually.

The handover agreement aimed to avoid interrupting the firms’ business operations.

Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh said on Saturday the handover was a big change.

The change could help fix the limitations and drawbacks in the old-fashioned State capital management model, in which ministries were empowered, and replace it with a more professional, accountable unit, the minister said.

“Separating the State capital management from administrative management is necessary to create a fair environment for all businesses and help Government agencies focus on their administrative job, which is becoming more complicated now,” Anh said.

The minister hoped the SOEs given to the committee would improve their businesses under the new management.

The committee was founded in February 2018 by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

The committee will eventually take control of the State capital in 19 SOEs from ministries and Government agencies, and is expected to improve the equitisation of SOEs in the future.

The 19 SOEs have a total VND2.3 quadrillion ($102.2 billion) worth of assets, including VND1 quadrillion worth of State capital.

Aside to the six SOEs that were listed above, others include the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), the Vietnam National Rubber Group (VRG), the national aviation firm Vietnam Airlines and the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV). — VNS