Obscure firm to seize strategic stake at Vinalines port

Vinalines and Viet Xuan Moi are now waiting for a nod from the government to conclude the deal.

According to the plan on divestment that Vinalines has just submitted to the Ministry of Transport for ratification, the company is going to directly sell the controlling stake to Viet Xuan Moi at a negotiated price. Specifically, Vinalines is going to sell 10.2 million shares at a negotiated price that is not lower than a price determined by a valuation company.

Vinalines calculated that it is going to receive at least VND102 billion ($4.6 million) from the sale to help it pay off debts.

“As there is an on-going trend to shift port activities from the Chua Ve area to Dinh Vu peninsula and the volume of goods passing through Dinh Vu is expected to rise steeply in the near future, Vinalines’s stake in Vinalines Dinh Vu should be valued at a lot higher than the book value,” said Nguyen Canh Tinh, acting general director of Vinalines.

There is little information on Viet Xuan Moi. According to Google, Viet Xuan Moi JSC was established in 2014 and operates mainly in exploiting sand from some rivers. A notable snippet, the company has joined many build-operate-transfer (BOT) transport infrastructure projects.

Viet Xuan Moi was one of the first investors registering to join the Cam Ranh international terminal BOT project. It is also one of the three-member consortium that proposed to complete the Hanoi-Thai Nguyen section of National Road 3, in a way that the section meets the criteria of an expressway. The project has the total investment of VND3.18 trillion ($142.6 million) and has just been approved by the Ministry of Transport.

Vinalines Dinh Vu Port JSC has a chartered capital of VND200 billion ($9 million). Established in 2011, the company is held by Vinalines (51 per cent), Hop Thanh Investment and Mineral JSC (24.27 per cent), while individual investor Nguyen Thi Thanh Nga and Loc Viet JSC each hold a 10 per cent stake, with small shareholders holding the remaining.

Vinalines Dinh Vu port is within Dinh Vu Industrial Zone. When completed in 2020, the port is going to have three ship docks with a capacity of 5.5 million tonnes per year. The demand for goods transport at these ports is forecast to stand around31 million tonnes.

Vinalines Dinh Vu Port JSC is one of the eight ports where Vinalines holds a stake where the government has just authorised the total divestment of state capital. The other seven are Khuyen Luong, Danang, Cam Ranh, Nam Can, Nghe Tinh, Can Tho, and Cai Lan ports.