The State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) and Military-run telecoms group Viettel have decided to offload their entire stakes, collectively at 79 per cent, in the Viet Nam Construction and Import-Export Joint Stock Corporation (Vinaconex).

The share sale will be held under the form of a public auction on November 22 on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, with a starting price of VND21,300 (US$0.9) per share.

SCIC will be offloading its 254.9 million shares, or 57.71 per cent stake in Vinaconex, while Viettel will sell 94 million shares, representing 21.28 per cent of the construction firm.

The buyer would have to purchase all shares of each offered batch. The foreign ownership limit in Vinaconex is 49 per cent, which means an overseas investor who wants to have a meaningful stake in the company can only go for Viettel’s offer.

Shares in Vinaconex, listed on the northern bourse as VCG, traded at VND18,800 on Friday.

Established in 1988 as a wholly State-owned company, Vinaconex was privatised in 2006 and then listed in 2008.

The company’s main business is construction and installation, accounting for over 60 per cent of the company’s revenue. Other business activities include real estate, industrial production, design consultancy, labour export, import-export, education and training.

Projects implemented by Vinaconex in 2018 in Ha Noi include Apartment Building 2B - Vinata Tower; apartment-commercial-office building complex at 25 Nguyen Huy Tuong Street; renovation project of old apartment at 93 Lang Ha Street and Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park project.

Currently, Vinaconex is managing and using a total of 98,901 square metres of land allocated in the provinces and cities of Ha Noi, Da Nang, Thanh Hoa and Vinh Phuc. It also manages 1.19 million square metres of leased land in Ha Noi and HCM City.

In the first six months of 2018, Vinaconex recorded net revenue of VND4.35 trillion ($186.11 million), up 4 per cent year-on-year, of which the main sources of income were construction activities, real estate development and industrial production.

Moreover, the company’s gross profit declined by 30 per cent in the period to VND450 billion, resulting in its pre-tax profit of VND235 billion, down 38 per cent year-on-year.

As of June 2018, Vinaconex’s total assets reached VND20.17 trillion, down 7.2 per cent compared to the beginning of the year, while its payables were equivalent to 63 per cent of the total asset value. — VNS