Vietnam’s largest stake sale is drawing tepid response as Thai Beverage Pcl emerges as the sole bidder willing to fork out more than $2 billion for a stake in Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage Corp.
A unit of ThaiBev is the only investor to register to buy at least a 25 percent stake in Vietnam’s largest beer company known as Sabeco, according to the Vietnam trade ministry’s website.
The closing date for registration for a stake of more than 25 percent was on Monday, though other companies can still bid for less than that amount at the Dec. 18 auction.
Foreign Interest
ThaiBev was among a half-dozen foreign companies, including Anheuser-Busch InBev NV and Asahi Group Holdings Ltd., that had expressed interest in bidding for the state-owned company.
Global brewers have been drawn to the heady growth prospects of the country’s beer market, driven by an expanding Vietnamese middle class and youthful population. Yet many potential bidders have been put off by Sabeco’s valuation, as the stock has soared 58 percent this year, as well as the minority stake offered.
“If you can’t take control, it makes it very challenging to justify the price,” said Marc Djandji, head of institutional sales at Viet Dragon Securities JSC in Ho Chi Minh City. “If you could take control, you could change the distribution, reduce costs and within a couple of years that 40 times earnings could go to 20 times earnings and that makes sense for a brewer in Asia. If you can’t do that, you are just overpaying.”
ThaiBev, controlled by billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, declined to comment. Trading in the company was halted in Singapore on Tuesday pending an announcement. Sabeco shares surged as much as 7 percent, the daily limit, in trading Tuesday in Vietnam. Hanoi Beer Alcohol & Beverage JSC, which is expected to hold a share sale early next year, also jumped 7 percent.
Stake Sale
Vietnam is seeking to raise more than $4 billion in the stake sale. The government is offering 53.6 percent of the brewer, though foreign investors are limited to a 38.59 percent stake. Combined with the 10.4 percent already held by investors from overseas, that would hit the foreign ownership cap imposed by Vietnam on some public companies.
The sale of a 25 percent stake in Sabeco would be worth $2.3 billion based on the government’s initial price guidance of 320,000 dong ($14.09) a share, about 9 percent above Monday’s closing price.
That’s higher than the 6 percent premium paid for a stake in Vietnam Dairy Products JSC that auctioned in December last year. The auction of Vietnam’s top dairy company was a flop, drawing only two bidders while not all the shares offered were sold.
Shares of Sabeco trade at about 40 times blended forward 12-month earnings, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Asahi Group trades at about 19 times, compared with 20 times for Carlsberg A/S and Heineken NV. Vinamilk trades at 25 times earnings.
San Miguel Corp. was one of the parties interested in Sabeco, but President Ramon Ang said Tuesday that the Philippines’ largest company wasn’t bidding because the price was too high.
Asahi President Akiyoshi Koji expressed similar concerns about the stock in September. Even Hui Choon Kit, chief financial officer of Fraser and Neave Ltd., a vehicle for Thai Beverage’s international expansion, said last month that Sabeco was too expensive at its current share price.
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