Vietnam should believe in the long-term goal of privatization process and should not lower the process, said Alain Cany, chairman of European Chamber of Commerce (EuroCham).
The government should also seek measures to speed up privatization as well as clearly announce the roadmap of the to-be-privatized companies for potential strategic partners to consider buying shares.
Large international groups are still interested in participating in privatization of Vietnamese companies in such sectors as banking and telecommunications, Cany said.
The privatization process of the state-owned companies in Vietnam has been slowing down in recent months because of the slumping stock market.
Vietnam has decided to delay IPO of many companies after no company registered to sell shares in May and only a few offered shares in April.
In the first three months of 2008, only 10 companies made IPO, but half of them failed, including a giant beverage producer Habeco.
Huy Nam, an analyst, said companies failed because they only take care of how to sell shares at prices, but they forget real targets of privatization. Therefore, when the stock market goes down, they could not sell shares, which were offered at high prices.
If companies have good methods and reasonable calculation of corporate evaluations, they can still be successful in IPO, Nam said.
Privatization is aimed to improve the efficiency, governance and competitiveness of companies, but not for high or low prices.
The government should not rely on the slumps in the stock market to delay privatization process, said Dao Van Hung, chairman of the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN). (Investment)
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