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State-run monopoly Electricity of Vietnam, or EVN has obtained the central government’s approval for a recently-submitted plan to go public with all affiliates by the end of 2008, two years earlier than scheduled.
Under the decision Tuesday signed by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, EVN’s twenty-four subsidiaries are set to go public by the end of this year, focusing on major players like the Ba Ria and Uong Bi thermo-electricity plants, and the Da Nhim – Ham Thuan – Da My Hydropower Plant in the central highlands region.
The remaining six subsidiaries are scheduled to go public by the end of 2008, comprising the Nghi Son and Mong Duong thermopower plants in the central and the north; Telecom Co, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh Electric companies, Electric Finance Co.
Dinh Quang Tri, deputy general director of EVN, said recent successful share auctions of select EVN subsidies on the local securities market resulted in a quickened pace for other shares sales involving the utility.
The rapid growth of the stock exchange is a positive signal for the power group’s move to mobilize funds by going public.
Twenty-one subsidiaries had already auctioned off shares, with total assets of over VND19 trillion (US$1.2 billion), EVN’s board reported.
Some 14 enterprises had moved to go public starting last year.
More plans
The unlisted-EVN also recently obtained the nod in-principle from the government to sell corporate bonds overseas next year, expecting to raise US$300 million to $500 million off the first phase.
The bonds would be sold on international markets to raise funds for giant power plants, Tri said, but refused to unveil a timeframe for the issue.
The Hanoi-based utility, which dominates the electricity industry in booming Vietnam was in the process of choosing a foreign consultant to audit and establish a credit rating for the company.
If the process runs as scheduled, EVN would be the country’s first issuer of overseas corporate bonds.
Along with preparation for the forthcoming issue of overseas corporate bonds, the group planned to issue VND8 trillion ($502 million) in bonds for Q2 this year for infrastructure development.
EVN had raised VND6 trillion ($377 million) from domestic bonds last year, saying the proceeds went to the construction of major power plants, such as the $2.3 billion Son La hydro power plant.
The group needs VND250 trillion ($15.6 billion) in the 2006-2010 period to complete all planned power plant projects.
Power demand in Vietnam's economy, the world's fastest growing one after China, is forecast to grow by up to 17 percent per year, prompting the government to plan 60 additional plants by 2020.
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