Sabeco beer shares soar on stock listing plan

The price of Sai Gon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Joint Stock Company (Sabeco) shares have soared in recent days on the over-the-counter (OTC) market after the company announced its listing plan on the HCM Stock Exchange. - Photo cafef.vn

The number of offers to buy shares of Viet Nam's biggest beer producer have perked up rapidly since early this week with the bid volume reaching over one million shares a day.

The tender prices are currently around VND100,000-102,000 (US$4.48-4.57) per share, up 25 per cent over August.

Increased investor interest was attributed to Sabeco's listing plan this year.

Last week, Sabeco asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade to debut its shares on the HCM Stock Exchange in the future. The company said it was working with a consulting securities firm and the procedures would take at least two months to be completed.

Shares of Sabeco is being traded on the OTC market, a decentralised and off-exchange trading floor where stocks are traded through a dealer network.

In August, the Government asked Sabeco and Ha Noi Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Joint Stock Company (Habeco), the country's two biggest breweries, to list their shares on the local stock exchange, saying it is "mandatory" for State-owned enterprises to list on the stock market after equitisation.

Both Sabeco and Habeco madeinitial public offerings in 2008.

According to the divestment plan, the State will sell its entire 82 per cent of capital, equivalent to VND9 trillion at the Habeco this year.

As for Sabeco, the divestment will consist of two tranches in which around 54 per cent of capital will be sold this year while another 36 per cent will be put up on sale in 2017, after Sabeco shares are listed on the stock exchange.

Based on OTC prices, Sabeco is valued at around VND65 trillion and the divestment value amounts to VND57.5 trillion, or $2.6 billion.

In the OTC market, the bid prices of Habeco are around VND47,000 and VND48,000 a share, slightly higher than that in early August.

Sabeco and Habeco hold a combined market share of 60 per cent in the local beer market.

The local beer market has seen an annual growth rate of 35-40 per cent in recent years. Viet nam is forecast to consume 4.04 billion litres of beer in 2016, the highest in the ASEAN region.

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