PetroVietnam seeks to divest stake in several subsidiaries

PetroVietnam has submitted a divestment plan to Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade, to reduce its stake in a number of its subsidiaries.

Vietnam’s state-owned oil and gas company has been looking for investors in PetroVietnam Petrochemical and Textile Fiber JSC (PVTex), and wants to reduce its stake in the company from 74% to 36%. PVTex is Vietnam’s first polyester fiber plant, which was founded in 2008 with a total investment of about USD200 million. The plant started commercial operations in May 2014 with a capacity of 236 tonnes per day. The company is on the verge of insolvency with debts amounting to USD221.3 million.

Besides PVTex, PetroVietnam has prepared a roadmap to divest capital from other subsidiary companies, including PetroVietnam Power Corporation (PV Power), PetroVietnam Oil Corporation (PV Oil), Binh Sơn Refining and Petrochemical Co. Ltd. and Dung Quat Shipbuilding Industry Co. Ltd.

PetroVietnam has established equitisation steering committees in these companies and has hired consulting companies to calculate their market values.

It plans to reduce holdings in PV Power to at least 51% of capital, in PV Oil and Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical to 65%, and in Dung Quat Shipbuilding Industry to 75% after equitisation.