Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) is preparing to submit a statement to the State Bank of Vietnam and the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) that it has officially signed the contract to sell PTF to Southeast Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SeaBank).

This was revealed by Tran Manh Hung, chairman of VNPT, at the meeting of MIC on February 5. “VNPT has just held a successful auction of PTF with the participation of two banks,” he said. The successful selling price was higher than the initial price set by VNPT.

Earlier, according to the announcement of VNPT, the auction of PTF was to take place on February 1, 2018 at the initial price of VND500 billion ($220 million), which is the charter capital of the company stated in the business certificate granted in 1998.

In additional to losing almost all of its owners' capital, by the middle of 2017 PTF has accumulated debts of VND347 billion ($15.3 million), including VNPT's debts.

The regulations of the auction noted that the investor winning the auction must inherit all the assets, debts, and liabilities of the company at the time of handover. Furthermore, investors must have a valid payment guarantee from a domestic bank to commit payment to VNPT.

Related to VNPT’s divestment of other companies, the chairman said the group has organised auctions in batches of six companies. Four of these were not successful.

Recently, VNPT's divestment of its stake in Maritime Bank has not been successful as no investors registered to buy. The group holds 71 million shares (equaling 6.09 per cent of the charter capital), which were offered at VND851 billion ($37.5 million).

Besides, VNPT continues to divest other companies, including Cadico, Central Telecommunication Development JSC, Dalat Telecommunication Construction and Trading Services Company, Dong Thap Telecommunication Construction Investment Company, Bac Lieu Telecommunication Construction Investment Company, Hue Post and Telecommunication Construction and Installation JSC.