Aeroports de Paris to hold 20 percent of Vietnam’s sole airport company

Airport Corporation of Vietnam (ACV), which manages the 22 airports across the country is basically done negotiating the sale of a 20 per cent stake to Aeroports de Paris (ADP). According to a source of VIR, the two companies are on their way to sign the sales agreement by the end of this month, ending nearly one year of negotiations.

The Ministry of Transport (MoT) in principle agreed to ADP becoming the sole strategic shareholder, holding at most 20 per cent of ACV. ADP will let ACV decide the price of services not related to air transport

on the basis that ACV will keep rental prices at airports and necessary services within the limit prescribed by the government. In addition, the prices of the services will have to be publicised by ACV.

The negotiations started in January 2016. ADP was the first investor to approach ACV after the prime minister approved the equitisation plan of ACV.

At the moment, there is little information on the price, but earlier ADP sought to buy ACV shares at the minimum auction price  in ACV’s initial public offering, which is VND13,100 ($0.58). At this price, ACV

expects to collect between VND2.8 trillion ($125.5 million) and VND3 trillion ($134.5 million) from the sale.

ACV reported a revenue of VND14.5 trillion ($650 million) in 2016, up 25 per cent on-year, and a pre-tax profit of VND4.075 trillion ($182.7 million). The shares of the company, currently listed on the UPCom

platform, closed at VND48,700 ($2.2) on January 16.

According to ACV’s prime minister-approved equitisation plan, the government is going to hold 75 per cent of ACV, a strategic investor 20 per cent, and other investors the rest.