Though having fulfilled the plan on selling state’s capital in seventy enterprises in 2008, SCIC General Director Tran Van Ta said that it was really very difficult to obtain the achievement due to the macroeconomic changes and the gloomy stock market in 2008. Both the factors made the demand for stakes in the companies SCIC planned to sell became very low.

Capital withdrawal carried out mainly in small enterprises

Selling state’s capital in enterprises is one of the main activities of SCIC nowadays. The super corporation is pushing up the restructuring of the state capital in enterprises, trying to reduce investment quantity and improve investment quality, while focusing investments in strategic fields.

By December 31, 2008, SCIC had sold state’s capital in seventy enterprises, of which fifty-five enterprises had seen all the capital sold. The value on book of the enterprises was VND 122 billion, while the actual value collected was VND 211 billion.

These were mostly small enterprises which had the low return on equity ROE, which still cannot meet the requirements for listing on the bourse and operated in the fields the state does not need to make capital investment.

“We tried to sell more enterprises and at higher prices, but this can be obtained only in good conditions of the market. In the current conditions, even blue chips remain unsellable, let alone the small enterprises in remote areas,” Ta said.

In 2007, SCIC withdrew all the state’s capital from twenty-five enterprises and withdrew a part of capital from nine others, mostly belonging to C group (the group of small enterprises). The book value of the enterprises was VND 73 billion, while the actual value was VND 390 billion.

New mechanism to allow SCIC to sell more quickly

On December 26, 2008, the Ministry of Finance released the document guiding the sale of the state’s stakes in enterprises.

Under the legal document, SCIC can itself choose the method of selling stakes, including the sale under the negotiation mode, instead of having to sell stakes under the only method of auctioning.

The ‘supreme’ principle that SICI must follow is to ensure the highest possible interest for the State.

SCIC is now holding stakes in over 800 enterprises which have been operating in different business fields.

2009 is expected to be another difficult year which will see big impacts of the global financial crisis on the national economy in general and the growth rate of enterprises in particular.

Source: TBKTVN