[Vnbiz] Sabeco, Vietnam's largest brewer, plans to raise $557 million in an IPO

[Tai Phan]

Sabeco, Vietnam's largest brewer, plans to raise $557 million in an IPO
Reuters



*HANOI <http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/02/business/beer.php#>:* Saigon
Beer Alcohol Beverage Corp., Vietnam's largest brewer, plans to raise at
least $557 million from selling 20 percent of its shares in an initial
public offering late this month, the stock exchange said Wednesday.

The IPO was delayed from August 2007 because the partial privatization of
the brewer, based in Ho Chi Minh City and also known as Sabeco, only
received approval Dec. 28. The government said it would retain 79.61 percent
of the firm.

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange said in a separate statement that Sabeco
would auction 128,257,000 shares, or 20 percent, on Jan. 28 at a starting
price of 70,000 dong, or $4.34, each.

It did not say what Sabeco would use the proceeds for.

Based on the starting price, Sabeco, which has a 30 percent share of a
domestic beer market that it says will grow 10 percent a year over the next
decade, would be valued at $2.78 billion.
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In another directive issued Dec. 28, the government allowed Hanoi Beer
Alcohol Beverage Corp., or Habeco, which has registered capital of
2.32trillion dong, to sell 15 percent of its shares in an IPO on the
Hanoi stock
market.

The government said it would retain 74.44 percent in the Hanoi-based Habeco,
which is expected to raise at least $108 million. It has yet to set a date.

Vietnam's beer production rose 19.2 percent last year to 1.85 billion
liters, according to government statistics.

Neither brewer has said when it plans a domestic listing. Initial public
offerings and stock market trading debuts are separate affairs in Vietnam.

Sabeco, which brews Saigon Beer and Beer 333, said in late 2006 that it
would double its beer output to one billion liters by 2010, when per capita
annual beer consumption is forecast at 28 liters, up from 18 liters in 2006.

Its production capacity grew 16 percent in both 2005 and 2006. Its 2006
gross profit rose 7 percent from 2005 to 1.3 trillion dong while revenues
rose 22 percent to 8.5 trillion dong, state media have said.

The Ho Chi Minh City stock index rose only 23.3 percent last year after a
rise of 144.5 percent in 2006.

The market's capitalization was $22.8 billion at the end of last year,
nearly three times more than the over-the-counter Hanoi stock market's $8
billion.

Market regulators aim to raise the country's stock market value to between
50 percent and 60 percent of gross domestic product this year from
43.4percent in 2007, when GDP grew
8.48 percent to $71 billion.
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