Party Secretariat asks for inspection results of MobiFone acquisition

March 10, 2018 | 06:59

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MobiFone's 95-per-cent stake purchase AVG has been called a “very serious case.”

party secretariat asks for inspection results of mobifone acquisition

AVG was renamed to MobiTV after the deal

On March 8, the Secretariat of the Communist Party Central Committee issued the document on handling the case of MobiFone acquiring 95 per cent of Audio Visual Global (AVG)’s shares. The Party Secretariat said this is really a serious and complicated case that required comprehensive inspection and drew public attention.

The Secretariat asked to announce the inspection results of a VND8.89 trillion ($395 million) acquisition by MobiFone. State-owned MobiFone allegedly paid VND8.89 trillion ($395 million) for 95 per cent of AVG’s shares, about 2.5 times higher than AVG’s charter capital.

The Secretariat asked the government and the Government Inspectorate to take responsibility for the inspection results and urgently handle the case in an objective and accurate manner in line with the party’s regulations and the law.

Earlier, in January 2016, MobiFone released an announcement on purchasing the stake in AVG without mentioning the deal value. The name of AVG was changed to MobiTV in April 2016. At that time, MobiTV expected to gain one million new subscribers in 2016 to become one of the three largest pay-TV service providers in the country.

AVG entered the pay-TV market in 2011, and offered both terrestrial television and satellite digital television services. It had eight channels and more than 700,000 subscribers in 2016. Statistics from the information and communications ministry show that the pay-TV market had reached 9.9 million subscribers that year.

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