Trungnam Group considers renewables stake sale

Vietnamese private conglomerate Trungnam Group is likely to sell a 30% to 35% stake in its wind and solar power portfolio.

The Ho Chi Minh City-based major is reportedly working with a financial adviser on this plan, Bloomberg said Tuesday, adding that a deal is likely to value the assets at more than $1 billion.

The process is private, and deliberations are ongoing, the news provider quoted sources as saying. There is no guarantee the group will proceed with the potential divestment.

Trungnam, one of Vietnam’s largest renewables developers, has 1.63 gigawatts of electricity contributing to Vietnam’s power supply as of October 2021, according to its website.

In April 2021, Trungnam sold a 49% stake in the 204 megawatt Trung Nam Thuan Bac Solar Power Plant in Ninh Thuan province on Vietnam’s central coast to A Chau Industrial Technology JSC (ACIT). In May 2021, it sold a 35.1% stake in the 152 MW Trung Nam Wind Power Plant in the province to Hitachi Sustainable Energy of Japanese corporation Hitachi.

Trungnam Group CEO Nguyen Tam Tien told local media the same month that stake sales would help the group improve its cash flow to develop other renewable power projects, and better show banks its financial health.

Trungnam would never sell stakes to investors with unclear capital sources, and not offer more than 51% of its stakes to foreign investors, he added.

HSBC Vietnam signed this February a letter of intent with Trungnam to evaluate and provide financing solutions with a focus on sustainability. It was a further step by the foreign bank in the execution of its commitment to arrange up to $12 billion of direct and indirect sustainable financing for Vietnam and its corporate sector by 2030.

Under the letter, the HSBC subsidiary will partner with Trungnam to evaluate and provide sustainable financing solutions for the development of the group’s renewable energy projects across Vietnam.