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Vingroup asks to buy Vietnam’s largest ports: media

Vingroup asks to buy Vietnam’s largest ports: media

Saturday, March 07, 2015, 15:29 GMT+7

Real estate conglomerate Vingroup, owned by the only Vietnamese billionaire in Forbes list, has told the Minister of Transport it wants to buy a stake in each of the country’s largest seaports, local media reported Friday.

Vingroup seeks to become the strategic investors of the Saigon Port in Ho Chi Minh City and Hai Phong Port in the namesake city in the north, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

The ports are under the management of the Vietnam National Shipping Lines, commonly known as Vinalines.

This is the second time Vingroup made the proposal to the transport ministry, according to the Hanoi-based newswire.

Vingroup is chaired by Pham Nhat Vuong, the wealthiest individual in Vietnam and the only Vietnamese representative in the 2015 Forbes Billionaire List released Monday, with a net worth of US$1.7 billion.

The company has proposed to acquire an 80 percent stake of Hai Phong Port at a price that is no less than the average successful bidding price.

Vingroup also wants to own 80 percent of the Ho Chi Minh City-based port at a price that is no less than the IPO price, and join in developing the privatization plan for the port.

“Vingroup is committed to follow all government’s policies and principles in the planning and management of seaports,” Vingroup general director Duong Thi Mai Hoa was quoted by the Vietnam News Agency as saying.

Vingroup has said it wants to operates, manages and explores the ports if the stake acquisition is approved. The company will employ the modern administrative management models for the ports to increase its unloading capacity and business effectiveness.

Newswire VnExpress said a high-ranking official from the transport ministry confirmed Vingroup’s proposal on Thursday.

If approved, it will be the largest-ever deal in regard of seaports in Vietnam.

Saigon Port was valued at VND4 trillion ($186.41 million) in early 2014, with the government holding a total capital of VND2.16 trillion ($100.66 million), according to VnExpress.

Hai Phong Port, the largest of its kind in northern Vietnam, went public after an IPO last year and has a total registered capital of VND3.27 trillion ($152.39 million). The government owns 95 percent of the port.

Under the plan to privatize the country’s seaports and airplanes, the minimum stake the government should hold in the facilities is 51 percent.

The proposition to acquire as much as 80 percent of the port of Vingroup thus requires the decision from the Prime Minister.

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