boiman
22-10-2008, 05:59 PM
Two foreign-owned investment funds have sold off their
stakes in a vegetable oil maker, claiming the firm’s chairman did not
function transparently, jeopardizing profitability.
Tuong An Vegetable Oil Joint Stock Co. (TAC) became
the most active stock by volume in Ho Chi Minh City last Tuesday, with
more than one million shares exchanging hands. Of this, 816,260 shares
were sold by foreign investors.
UK’s Amersham Industries Ltd. sold 231,140 shares to
reduce its stake from 5.93 percent to 4.71 percent on July 11. The
UK-based fund sold all of its holding last month, according to a source
from the company.
France’s Jaccar Capital Fund made a similar pattern,
selling 219,760 shares to cut its stake from 6.01 percent to 4.85
percent in August.
Shares of Tuong An Vegetable Oil Joint Stock Co. Monday closed down VND1,800, or 4.85 percent, to VND35,300.
Conflicts over the firm’s management began early last
year and involved The National Company for Vegetable Oils, Aromas and
Cosmetics of Vietnam, known as Vocarimex, which holds 51 percent in the
firm on behalf of the State.
Jaccar’s country chief Vo Thi Huyen Lan explained:
“The firm’s general director should have been in charge of choosing the
bidder for sourcing materials. But the company’s chairman Doan Tan
Nghiep, who is also Vocarimex’s deputy general director, often
brandished his authority to ask bidders to fax their price lists
directly to him. As the result, Vocarimex became the supplier to Tuong
An all the time.”
Tuong An has two other directors who are also
officials of Vocarimex. General director Huynh Tuan Phuong Mai, who
often opposed the chairman’s decisions, was finally replaced after a
decision at a shareholder’s meeting last June. “Tuong An has the
potential,”
Jaccar’s investment manager Khong Van Minh told Thanh
Nien Daily. “But with management by directors who also work for
Vocarimex, its earning capability is limited and its transparency has
become low.
“There are many better-run companies inviting us to become their strategic partner. So goodbye Tuong An.”
Thanh Nien Daily’s efforts to contact Nghiep for
comments were in vain. Tuong An’s net profit for the April-June quarter
plunged 90.6 percent year-on-year to VND5.15 billion (US$310,240) while
net profit for the first half fell 11.8 percent to VND60.7 billion.
Tuong An has one foreign partner remaining –Korea’s KITMC Worldwide Vietnam RSP Balanced Fund.
stakes in a vegetable oil maker, claiming the firm’s chairman did not
function transparently, jeopardizing profitability.
Tuong An Vegetable Oil Joint Stock Co. (TAC) became
the most active stock by volume in Ho Chi Minh City last Tuesday, with
more than one million shares exchanging hands. Of this, 816,260 shares
were sold by foreign investors.
UK’s Amersham Industries Ltd. sold 231,140 shares to
reduce its stake from 5.93 percent to 4.71 percent on July 11. The
UK-based fund sold all of its holding last month, according to a source
from the company.
France’s Jaccar Capital Fund made a similar pattern,
selling 219,760 shares to cut its stake from 6.01 percent to 4.85
percent in August.
Shares of Tuong An Vegetable Oil Joint Stock Co. Monday closed down VND1,800, or 4.85 percent, to VND35,300.
Conflicts over the firm’s management began early last
year and involved The National Company for Vegetable Oils, Aromas and
Cosmetics of Vietnam, known as Vocarimex, which holds 51 percent in the
firm on behalf of the State.
Jaccar’s country chief Vo Thi Huyen Lan explained:
“The firm’s general director should have been in charge of choosing the
bidder for sourcing materials. But the company’s chairman Doan Tan
Nghiep, who is also Vocarimex’s deputy general director, often
brandished his authority to ask bidders to fax their price lists
directly to him. As the result, Vocarimex became the supplier to Tuong
An all the time.”
Tuong An has two other directors who are also
officials of Vocarimex. General director Huynh Tuan Phuong Mai, who
often opposed the chairman’s decisions, was finally replaced after a
decision at a shareholder’s meeting last June. “Tuong An has the
potential,”
Jaccar’s investment manager Khong Van Minh told Thanh
Nien Daily. “But with management by directors who also work for
Vocarimex, its earning capability is limited and its transparency has
become low.
“There are many better-run companies inviting us to become their strategic partner. So goodbye Tuong An.”
Thanh Nien Daily’s efforts to contact Nghiep for
comments were in vain. Tuong An’s net profit for the April-June quarter
plunged 90.6 percent year-on-year to VND5.15 billion (US$310,240) while
net profit for the first half fell 11.8 percent to VND60.7 billion.
Tuong An has one foreign partner remaining –Korea’s KITMC Worldwide Vietnam RSP Balanced Fund.