The Vietnamese government has approved the sale of a 49% stake in state-owned EVN Telecom to technology group FPT, by way of a partial privatization of the operator.
The state will retain a slim 50.6% majority in the operator, while 0.4% of the company will be sold to its employees, the government said.
EVN Telecom will directly negotiate the sale price with FPT and its telecom wing, Vietnam Newsreported. The acquisition target has a registered capital of around 2.96 trillion dong.
EVN Telecom, which offers both fixed and mobile services, has struggled to make a splash in Vietnam's saturated telecom market. It is the smallest of Vietnam's seven major operators, according to the telecom ministry, and made just 60% of its earnings target for 2010.
According to Vietnam News sources, the CDMA-based operator blames a lack of access to GSM technology for its lack of progress, and the sale to GPT is a form of strategic partnership.
EVN Telecom is a subsidiary of utility company Electricity of Vietnam, which may itself be partly privatized.
The buyer, FPT, operates in a range of technology segments. The company has 11 subsidiaries, including fixed and wireless operator FPT Telecom.