(Bloomberg) -- Vietnam's State Capital Investment Corp. has picked Morgan Stanley Asia (Singapore) Ltd. to be its lead consultant in the sale of a 9 percent stake in Vietnam Dairy Products JSC.
SCIC, as the government's investment arm is commonly known, also signed a contract Oct. 5 to hire Saigon Securities JSC and VinaCapital Corporate Finance Vietnam Ltd. to assist in the sale of shares in the dairy company, according to an SCIC e-mail statement.
Investors have long awaited SCIC's divestment of Vinamilk, the nation's largest company by market value that is viewed as one of the most desired public enterprises in Vietnam by foreign investors. The dairy company in July received approval from the securities commission to remove the 49 percent foreign ownership limit on its stocks, paving the way for investors to buy more.
Hiring these “reputable” financial organizations will ensure the transparency and effectiveness of the stake sale in Vinamilk, Hanoi-based SCIC said in the statement.
SCIC chairman Nguyen Duc Chi said it plans to complete the stake sale this year, according to state-controlled VnEconomy on its website on Sept. 24. The minimum price for the first installment of the sale will be determined in November, the report said. SCIC currently holds a 45 percent stake in Vinamilk.
Shares of Vinamilk have climbed 32 percent this year, compared with an 18 percent advance for the benchmark. The stock was added to MSCI Inc.'s frontier-markets indexes in August. Vinamilk fell 0.6 percent at the midday break on Friday.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nguyen Kieu Giang in Hanoi at giang1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: John Boudreau at jboudreau3@bloomberg.net, Chan Tien Hin, Andrew Janes
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