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 20, 2018 / 20:31

Vietnam refinery eyes change in divestment scheme

Binh Son Refinery and Petrochemical (BSR), the operator of the first oil refinery in Vietnam, has proposed selling a 49% stake through public auction, due to its inability to find strategic investors.

Under the equitization plan, the oil refinery operator was expected to sell the said share amount to strategic investors through private placements three months after its initial public offering (IPO) on January 17. 
 
Illustration photo.
Illustration photo.
The move would reduce the state ownership at BSR to 43%. However, unfavorable conditions in the market made it difficult for BSR to find suitable strategic partners. 

Nevertheless, the proposal has not been submitted to the government or subjected to discussion at the annual shareholder meeting, which is scheduled on June 21, the first since BSR's IPO in January.

BSR raised VND5.57 trillion (US$245 million) in proceeds by selling 241.55 million shares, equivalent to a 7.79% stake at its IPO at the Ho Chi Minh City Exchange (HOSE). The proceeds surpassed the original estimation of VND3.5 trillion (US$154 million), based on the initial offering price of VND14,600 (US$0.6). 

The company`s after-tax profit in the first six months this year reached VND2.7 trillion (US$119.2 million), equivalent to 77.6% of the year's target. During this period, its revenue stood at VND53.9 trillion (US$2.38 billion), or 69% of this year's plan, according to the company's report.

By the end of 2020, BSR will complete the expansion project of the Dung Quat Oil Refinery, and put it into operation by 2022.  

After nine years of operation, the refinery supplied over 50 million tons of petroleum products to the market, reaching accumulated revenue of VND862.5 trillion (US$38 billion).


BSR set profit target to reach its peak at VND6.37 trillion (US$281.2 million) in 2019, after which the profit will gradually decline in the next three years due to investment activities.