Gemadept sold tower

January 07, 2014 | 14:27

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HoSE-listed Gemadept Corporation has sold the 22-floor Gemadept Tower in Ho Chi Minh City, bringing in a hefty cash sum to be used for investment in logistics and port projects.

Gemadept concluded the deal in December with four subsidiaries of Korean CJ Group, according to a company release. The proceeds from the transaction was recorded in the 2013 income statement.

Instead of selling the asset directly, Gemadept founded the wholly-owned firm Marproco, using the tower as paid-in capital, then sold its interest in the newly-established concern.

However, Gemadept only sold 85 per cent of Marproco this year, with the remaining 15 per cent reserved for 2014.

Gemadept’s moves to sharply increase Marproco’s charter capital to VND936 billion ($44.3 million) from the previous VND6 billion ($284,158), has caused Vietcombank Securities (VCBS) to estimate the building’s value at VND930 billion ($44 million). As the asset has input costs of VND218.4 billion ($10.3 million), the deal has earned the company VND711.6 billion ($33.7 million).

The building earned Gemadept more than VND64 billion ($3 million) from office leasing in the first nine months of 2013, figures unchanged against the same period last year. Gemadept reported total sales of VND1.827 trillion ($86.53 million) and pre-tax profit of VND186.5 billion ($8.83 million) in the same period. With shareholder targets for whole year sales and pre-tax profit set at VND2.3 trillion ($108.93 million) and VND500 billion ($23.7 million) respectively, the company looks set to meet their expectations comfortably through the sale of the Gemadept Tower.

Gemadept will use the proceeds to invest in logistics and port projects, but specific details have not yet been released.

The firm now operates four ports in the country with two others under construction.

By By Duc Luan

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