At a press conference last Friday, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Ha Cong Tuan said VRG had earlier launched an initial public offering (IPO) and was able to sell only 2% of its shares, much lower than the expected 11.88%.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has plans to continue offering 1.24% of VRG shares to its workers and strategic investors.

In the coming time, the ministry will push for more share sales in line with prevailing regulations. Even if the equitization is not as successful as expected, the ministry will still convert the group into a joint stock company.

In addition, the ministry is seeking strategic investors to equitize Vietnam Southern Food Corporation (Vinafood 2) on the Hochiminh Stock Exchange in the first half of this year, said Tuan.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development this month or next will transfer four enterprises under its management to the State capital management committee including VRG, Vietnam Northern Food Corporation (Vinafood 1), Vietnam National Coffee Corporation (Vinacafe) and Vinafood 2.

Regarding difficulties in the equitization of agricultural enterprises, Nguyen Van Vu, deputy director of the Department of Enterprise Management under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the sticky issues largely relate to farmland and farmers.