Permitting Sale of SOEs to Foreign Investors

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has issued a decree on the transfer and sale of wholly State-owned enterprises (SOEs). Accordingly, foreign investors, foreign-invested companies in Vietnam, even financial and economic organisations, set up under foreign laws and operating in Vietnam or other countries, and foreign individuals, are permitted to buy SOEs.

 

This decree allows complete sale of SOEs regardless of capital size, but they must satisfy the following conditions: The enterprises must be in the list of selling or have been unsuccessfully equitised. Regarding the transfer of SOEs, this decree provides that SOEs must have chartered capital less than VND5 billion, must be in the list of transferring or must be unsuccessfully equitised, and must not have advantageous locations.

 

After buying the enterprises, buyers are allowed to take the initiative in using purchased assets, selecting business scopes, changing management apparatus, deciding the business form and continuing leasing land under the law. If the buyers keep the business scope unchanged, they will continue rights and interests from earlier contracts.