Foreign investors procured more than 1.46 million shares, or 87.9 per cent of total shares that Vinamilk put for auction on November 29 in Ho Chi Minh City Securities Trading Center.
This is the second consecutive time foreigners snapped up most of the shares offered by the country's largest dairy company.
Eight foreign institutions, including the American fund Kamm Investment and Singapore's dairy company F&N, and six individuals won the shares.
In this share sale, Vinamilk sold 1.66 million shares, equivalent to its 10.46 per cent stake, and raked in beyond expectation VND812.8 billion (US$51.4 milion).
The highest bid was VND570,000 a share and the lowest price was VND480,000 a share, compared with the initial price of VND420,00. Thus, the 40 bidders paid an average VND488,747 for the VND100,000 par value shares.
Foreign ownership after the issue is estimated to increase to around 28 per cent in the company, meanwhile the State stake was reduced to 50.01 per cent.
The F&N Dairy Investment Co. purchased 997,000 shares, bringing its stake in the company to around 10 per cent. This is also the firm that has registered to buy all the offered 1.66 million shares at the price of VND480,000 each.
In the latest share auction in February 17, Vinamilk mobilized some VND570 billion (US$36 million) from selling more than 1.8 million shares [15 per cent of its equity], most of which was also purchased by foreign investors at average price of VND313,000 a share.
The firm, with a registered capital of VND1.59 trillion (US$100 million), is expected to float its shares on the Vietnamese stock market next year and later in Singapore.
The Vinamilk shares are now trading at between VND430,000 and VND450,000 each in over-the-counter (OTC) market.
Vinamilk targets pre-tax profits of VND527 billion this year from VND464 billion last year. It plans to pay a cash dividend of VND1,700 in 2005, compared with VND1,500 in 2004.
HSTC, VNA
Vietnamese
