The day of December 18, 2017 marked a important milestone in the history of Vietnam’s stock sector when Sabeco successfully sold 343 million shares, or 53 per cent stake, to Vietnam Beverage Co., Ltd. (a subsidiary of Thai Beverage) for VND110 trillion ($4.83 billion). It was the largest deal in Vietnam so far and the largest deal in the Southeast Asia within the past three years.

 

Anticipation of the deal sent Sabeco’s share flying. Notably, on the transaction session of November 29, 2017, the ticker reached a record of VND334,500 ($14.69).

 

However, after the peak, the share has been seeing consecutive decreases. Accordingly, on March 14, Sabeco’s shares was at VND214,600 ($9.43), a record low value since July 2017.

 

As of 10:00 AM this morning, the share was at VND209,500 ($9.2). Besides, Sabeco’s capitalisation decreased approximately by VND70 trillion ($3.07 billion) to VND137 trillion ($6.02 billion) since its peak.

 

This year, Sabeco estimated earnings of VND35.98 trillion ($1.58 billion) in revenue and VND4.8 trillion ($210.86 million) in after-tax profit, signifying increases of 4.4 and 2.2 per cent, respectively.

 

With the existing value of Sabeco’s shares, the total share volume owned by Thai Beverage is worth VND73 trillion ($3.2 billion), meaning the investor lost VND37 trillion ($1.63 billion) on the deal.

 

Recently, the State Audit Office proposed collecting VND2.5 trillion ($109.8 million) in tax arrears from Sabeco. The lion’s share of this is undeclared profit of VND2.8 trillion ($123.01 million) from 2016.

 

Besides, the state audit found that Sabeco has committed violations during its divestment from Saigon Pearl, its subsidiary operating in the real estate sector.

 

Notably, at the time of the deal, Sabeco Pearl’s shares were valued at VND13,247 (which was also the winning price at the bidding). However, according to the State Audit, the real value of the firm was lower than this.

 

Besides, the State Audit Office proposed considering Sabeco’s responsibility in losing VND445 billion ($19.54 million) in investments in banking, stocks, and financial investment funds.

 

By Ha Vy

 

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