WORDS ON THE STREET 70th anniversary of Hanoi's Liberation Day Vietnam - Asia 2023 Smart City Summit Hanoi celebrates 15 years of administrative boundary adjustment 12th Vietnam-France decentrialized cooperation conference 31st Sea Games - Vietnam 2021 Covid-19 Pandemic
Jun 22, 2021 / 14:08

Japan-based ENEOS forks out US$60 million to raise shareholding at Petrolimex

With this deal, the Japanese firm has become the third-largest shareholder at Petrolimex with a total share amount of 63 million, or a 4.87% stake.

Japan-based ENEOS Corporation, a subsidiary of Nippon Oil & Energy Vietnam, has completed the purchase of 25 million shares, or a 1.93% stake of Vietnam’s largest petroleum distributor Petrolimex, according to a filing to Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE).

 ENEOS Corporation becomes the third-largest shareholder at Petrolimex. Photo: Kinhtedothi

The transaction period took place from May 24 – June 15 through the order matching on-exchange method.

With this deal, the Japanese firm has become the third-largest shareholder at Petrolimex with a total share amount of 63 million, or 4.87% stake, behind Vietnam’s Committee for State Capital Management (CSCM) with 981.68 million shares, or 75.87% stake, and Nippon Oil & Energy Vietnam with 103.5 million shares, or 8%.

This resulted in total shares owned by Nippon Oil & Energy Vietnam and its subsidiary firm at Petrolimex at around 12.87%.

With Petrolimex's share price of VND54,800 (US$2,35) apiece at the close on June 15, ENEOS was expected to fork out around VND1.37 trillion (US$59.6 million) to complete the deal.

Petrolimex currently holds a 50% market share in Vietnam’s fuel retail sector with a retail network of more than 2,400 petrol stations and nearly 3,000 retail outlets across the country.

In the first quarter of this year, Petrolimex posted revenue of VND38.24 trillion (US$1.66 billion), slightly down 0.6% year-on-year, resulting in a net profit of VND736.2 billion (US$32 million). The figure remained in stark contrast with a net loss of VND1.81 trillion (US$78.7 million) recorded in the same period last year, for which the state firm pointed to a 20% rise in oil price from US$47.62 per barrel to US$59.16 during the period as the main reason.

For this year, Petrolimex targets a 9.1% growth in revenue to VND135.2 trillion (US$5.88 billion) and a 140.2% surge in profit to VND3.36 trillion (US$146.2 million).

In 2020, The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) proposed the Government allow foreign investors to join the local fuel distribution market. Under the proposal, local oil and petrol traders could be allowed to transfer their stakes to foreign investors but foreign ownership should not exceed 35%.