PV Oil loses appeal to foreign investors?

Only half of the investors that expressed interest have signed up for the PV Oil auction

According to the draft regulation on the sale of shares to strategic investors submitted to the authorities for approval, PV Oil released that after completing the investment evaluation, to date, four investors confirmed joining the auction to become strategic investors, registering to buy 2.86 times more shares than was put on offer.

However, the names of these four investors have yet to be disclosed.

Previously, at a roadshow organised in Ho Chi Minh City in early January, the firm revealed that it was courted by eight hopeful investors, six of which hail from overseas.

The potential foreign partners are major oil corporations from around the world: Royal Dutch Shell (UK/Netherlands), Kuma (Switzerland), SK (South Korea), Idemitsu Kosan (Japan), Kuwait Petroleum International, and an undisclosed firm from the Middle East. The two interested Vietnamese investors are SAM Holdings and Saigon General Service Corporation (Savico).

Setting stricter criteria for strategic investors may be one of the reasons behind the decreased interest. Accordingly, interested investors must have equity of at least VND2 trillion ($87.87 million), double than the previous figure.

Besides, interested investors have to agree to consume products manufactured by Dung Quat and Nghi Son refineries for ten years. The selling price will be based on the petroleum market price.

According to Decision No.1979/QD-TTg, PV Oil will have to complete the sale of shares to strategic investors within three months after its equitisation plan is approved. However, the company’s board of directors expects the firm to miss the deadline, thus it requested the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the prime minister to extend the deadline to late July. At present, PV Oil is waiting for the prime minister’s approval.

PV Oil currently operates 500 petroleum stations and supplies petroleum for 3,000 other stations, almost all of which are located in the north. PV Oil plans to increase the number of its petroleum stations to 1,500 and increase its market share through M&A activities.

In 2017, PV Oil reported a consolidated revenue of VND56 trillion ($2.46 billion) with a consolidated pre-tax profit of VND405 billion ($178.02 million).

This year, the firm expects to earn VND41 trillion ($1.8 billion) in revenue and VND340 billion ($149.45 million) in pre-tax profit.