Vietnam: Ministry of Industry and Trade asks Sabeco to hold extraordinary meeting to review personnel matters

Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has asked the Saigon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Corporation (Sabeco) to hold an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting to review personnel matters, VietNamNet Bridge reported on April 4.

This request was made in response to the Thai Beverage Public Co Ltd (ThaiBev)’s query relating to its authority to participate in Sabeco’s management board.

In a recent letter sent to the Government, ThaiBev has expressed concern that until now it has not been directly involved in Sabeco’s management board, even though its ownership here has reached 53.59 per cent of charter capital.

Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue asked the MoIT to handle the Thai beer company’s proposal.

In a sideline discussion at the Government’s meeting on April 2, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai said the 2014 Law on Enterprise stipulates that a shareholder or a group of shareholders may officially participate in the company’s board of directors and board of supervisors if they own a 10 per cent equity or more for at least six months.

Meanwhile, ThaiBev has held Sabeco’s stake for about four months.

However, MoIT has sent a document to Sabeco, asking the company to hold an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting to make decisions on a personnel matter, Hai said.

In December 2017, ThaiBev, through its subsidiary Vietnam Beverage Co Ltd, purchased a 53.59 per cent share of Sabeco’s charter capital for nearly US$5 billion through an auction on the HCM Stock Exchange.

Sabeco will hold an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting to elect additional members for the board of directors on April 23. It is likely that ThaiBev will join the board then.

Sabeco’s management board has seven members including two independent ones. Currently, Sabeco has three members representing the State capital and one representative from Heineken, which holds 10 per cent stake in Sabeco.

Thus, Sabeco now lacks three board members. Vietnam Beverage has proposed three people to join the board, including Koh Poh Tiong, chairman of Beer Group, which owns a 49 per cent stake in Vietnam Beverage; Micheal Chye Hin Fah, legal representative of Vietnam Beverage and a board member of Vinamilk; and Tran Kim Nga, Vietnam Beverage CEO.

VOV online newspaper quoted a representative of MoIT saying that the two sides are discussing the principle of co-operation, creating the most favorable conditions on the basis of compliance with existing law.

Shares of Sabeco, coded SAB, declined 3.8 per cent on April 3 to close at VND229,000 ($10.04) per share. Sabeco’s shares have lost about 20 per cent since its share auction on December 19 last year.

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