State-owned Viet company to grow 70,000 hectares of rubber trees in Cambodia and Laos

State rubber group to divest from non-core sectors

Mon, April 9, 2012
Tuoi Tre

The Vietnam Rubber Group will divest 100 percent of its stakes in companies operating in its non-core sectors, the company CEO-cum-chairman said on Sunday.

VRG will only focus on three main sectors — planting and exploiting rubber, the rubber industry, and wood processing, said chairman Tran Ngoc Thuan, citing the institution’s newly-developed restructuring plan.

VRG will divest from 40 businesses in the finance, securities, and banking sectors between 2012 and 2013, added Thuan.

“Total divestment is expected to reach VND1.4 trillion by 2015, and an additional VND1.7 trillion in the 2016 – 2020 period,” he said.

“Non-core investment is set to account for only 2 percent of VRG’s equity.”

As of the end of last year, VRG’s rubber planting area amounted to 330,000 hectares, with latex exploitation production of around 279,000 tons.

The state-run group is implementing 25 projects to grow 70,000 hectares of rubber in Laos and Cambodia, added Thuan.

VRG is calling on the government to increase the country’s total area zoned to grow rubber from 800,000 hectares to 1 million hectares, half of which will be accounted for by VRG.

The company will also focus on the rubber processing sector and the tire manufacturing industry, he said.