Vietnamese state-run mobile operator EVN Telecom is expected to be part-privatised by the end of the year, according to local newspaper VnExpress.
The company is looking to sell a 30% stake in an IPO, and at least 20% to foreign strategic partners. The…
Vietnamese state-run mobile operator EVN Telecom is expected to be part-privatised by the end of the year, according to local newspaper VnExpress.
The company is looking to sell a 30% stake in an IPO, and at least 20% to foreign strategic partners. The report explains that two local companies and two foreign institutional investors from Singapore and Malaysia have already expressed interest in becoming EVN’s strategic partners.
Citing an anonymous source, VnExpress went on to say that the telco has to wrap up the privatisation process quickly due financial difficulties and greater competition from mobile operators.
Vo Quang Lam, Deputy Director of EVN, had previously told local newspaper VietnamNet Bridge that foreign investors must meet EVN Telecom’s conditions of experience in the telecoms arena, including the construction of 3G networks.
Speculation in a number of other news sources claimed that Singapore Telecom, Axiata or Maxis had thrown their hats into the ring. Lam refused to unveil the value of the stake, but said that EVN Telecom has been valued at more than US$500m.
If EVN completes the process before the end of the year, it may become the country’s first privatised telecoms company. Rivals Viettel and MobiFone were approved for privatisation as far back as 2005, but they have yet to complete the process. Instead, the companies have become ‘one-member limited liability companies’ under the Business Law, which came into force on 1 July 2010. The law dictates that state enterprises that have not yet issued shares must transform into one-member limited liability companies until privatisation takes place.
EVN is owned by the Electricity Telecommunication Company, a subsidiary of government power utility, Electricity of Vietnam (EVN).
