HÀ NỘI — Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) sold its finance subsidiary Post and Telecommunication Finance Company Ltd (PTF) to SeABank at a recent auction.

After the successful auction, Trần Mạnh Hùng, chairman of VNPT, on Monday announced VNPT was completing the dossiers to submit to the State bank of Việt Nam (SBV) and the Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) for the deal’s approval.

According to Hùng, VNPT sold PTF to SeABank at a higher price than the asset valuation it gave. 

Earlier in December, a VNPT official announced that it would sell all the assets of PTF for at least VNĐ500 billion (US$21.9 million). Participating investors will have to pay a deposit of VNĐ50 billion.

Withdrawal from PTF is part of the VNPT’s plan to divest from non-core businesses.

Founded in 1998, PTF is Việt Nam’s first finance company, wholly owned by VNPT, with a charter capital of VNĐ500 billion.

According to PFT’s financial statements, its profits in 2015 and 2016 were VNĐ21 trillion and VNĐ19 trillion, respectively.

Earlier, on February 2016, Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Văn Ninh suggested a restructuring plan for PTF. Accordingly, the SBV and the MoIC needed to agree on measures to be taken.

Meanwhile, the VNPT group is expecting its restructuring plan and development strategy to get the Prime Minister’s approval early, which was the base for equitising the group in 2019.

Trần Mạnh Hùng, chairman of VNPT, said its development strategy in the period between 2018 and 2025 with a vision to 2030 is aimed at renovating its growth model towards improving productivity and competitiveness.

Its report revealed that the group earned a revenue of VNĐ144.7 trillion in 2017, rising by 7 per cent over the previous year. Its pre-tax profit reached VNĐ5.1 trillion, up by 21 per cent.

Under the restructuring plan, VNPT is aiming for an average revenue growth rate of at least 6.5 per cent per year, with a profit growth of more than 10.8 per cent per year by 2020. In the period between 2021 and 2025, the annual growth is expected to reach more than 7.7 per cent for revenue and more than 11 per cent in profit. — VNS