VNPT sells loss-making financial company

Dec 26, 2017 | 07:34 AM GMT+7

TheLEADERPoor results have led to parent company VNPT’s decision to hold an auction for the Post and Telecommunication Finance Company limited (PTF) on February 1, 2018, with the starting price of VND500 billion (roughly US$22.05 million).

VNPT sells loss-making financial company
PTF will be sold in an auction with the starting price of US$22.05 million

Despite having VND500 billion (roughly US$22.05 million) in charter capital, the Post and Telecommunication Finance Company limited (PTF) reported a negative equity by the year 2013. This has led to Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) organizing an auction to sell its PTF with the starting price of  US$22.05 million. 

According to the disclosure of information sent to prospective buyers, the company's equity in mid-2017 was only VND414 million (roughly US$18,258). Earlier, in 2015 and 2016, PTF's equity declined significantly and the company recorded the losses of VND44 billion and VND29 billion (roughly US$1.94 million and US$1.28 million).

Also, from 2013 to 2016, the company gained the total profit of VND104 billion (roughly US$4.59 million). In the first six months of this year, PTF's profit is estimated at only VND31 billion (roughly US$1.37 million).

According to the report on business results in recent years, PTF revealed that the biggest difficulty of the company was that it was unable to exploit the function of some credit and investment activities.

In addition to the loss of nearly all chartered capital, the company also reports a total of VND347 billion (roughly US$15.3 million) in debt.

According to the auction regulations of PTF, the winning bidder must inherit all assets and liabilities of the company at the time of handing over the data. It must also have a valid payment guarantee of a domestic bank committing an unconditional and irrevocable payment for the amount of debt that PTF must pay VNPT.

Current assets of PTF are mainly financial investments. By the end of 2016, VND263 billion (roughly US$11.6 million) of short-term financial investments and VND36 billion (roughly US$1.59 million) of long-term investments accounted for 77 per cent of total public assets.

PTF has invested in some enterprises including the real estate CEO Group, Hoa Phat Group, Mobifone Technical Services, Phuong Nam Real Estate Investment, Setfil water treatment equipment or Que Phong Hydropower.

Only domestic commercial banks and foreign credit institutions are allowed to participate in the PTF auction. Domestic banks that want to join the auction must have total assets of over VND100 trillion (roughly US$4.41 billion) and foreign credit institutions must have total assets of over US$10 billion.

VNPT has recently announced to continue divesting its stake from a number of companies including Maritime Bank. This is the third time VNPT has withdrawn from this bank after several unsuccessful auctions last year and in this March.

VNPT has also announced its divestment from Can Tho Telecommunication construction and investment, Hanoi post and telecommunication development investment consultant, central Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Construction and Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group.