SCIC's SEA Share Auction Cancelled Again as No Buyers Register

Overview

Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) cancelled the planned 2 November 2026 auction of more than 79.2 million SEA shares held by the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) in Vietnam Seaproducts Joint Stock Corporation (Seaprodex), after no investor registered to buy by the 26 October deadline. It is the second consecutive failed attempt to divest the state stake, and it comes alongside a Q3/2026 earnings report showing net profit up 55.2% year-on-year.

Key Facts

• HNX announced the cancellation of the auction of over 79.2 million SEA shares owned by SCIC, scheduled for 2 November 2026.
• The starting price was set at more than VND 8,509 billion for the entire share lot, with a tick size of VND 1 million per lot.
• The registration and deposit deadline was 15:30 on 26 October 2026; no investor registered.
• A prior auction planned for 29 September 2026 also failed, with no registrations by the 15:30 deadline on 22 September 2026.
• Q3/2026 net revenue was nearly VND 151.8 billion, down 31.8% year-on-year; gross profit was over VND 35.7 billion, down 13.8%.
• Q3/2026 net profit reached over VND 56.5 billion, up 55.2% year-on-year; nine-month 2026 net profit was over VND 157.1 billion, up 8.9%.
• Total assets stood at nearly VND 2,962.9 billion as of 30 September 2026, up 7.4% since the start of the year, with long-term financial investments of over VND 1,415.2 billion, or 47.8% of total assets.

What Happened

According to an HNX notice, the exchange did not organise the auction of Seaprodex shares held by SCIC because no investor registered to purchase the lot. Under Article 13 of the auction regulations for the SCIC-owned Seaprodex share lot, issued with Decision No. 1251/QD-SGDHN dated 9 October 2026 by the HNX General Director, the auction did not meet the conditions required to proceed.

The failure mirrors the earlier attempt. An auction originally scheduled for 29 September 2026 did not take place because no investor registered and deposited funds by the 15:30 deadline on 22 September 2026. Separately, Seaprodex’s consolidated Q3/2026 financial statements showed revenue falling 31.8% year-on-year to nearly VND 151.8 billion, while net profit rose 55.2% to over VND 56.5 billion, supported by financial income of nearly VND 13 billion (up 86.5%) and profit from associates of over VND 38.3 billion (up 14.3%).

Market Context

Seaprodex trades on UPCOM under the ticker SEA, closing at VND 48,100 on 28 October 2026. The stock sits in the seafood sector, where export demand and input costs have driven wide dispersion in earnings. The repeated failure to place a large state-owned block at a starting price above VND 8,509 billion for the lot signals a gap between the seller’s valuation and what institutional buyers are willing to pay, even as the company’s bottom line improves on non-operating income rather than core seafood sales.

Strategic Significance

The aborted auctions leave SCIC’s holding in Seaprodex unresolved and delay the state’s divestment from a seafood company whose earnings increasingly depend on associate income and financial investments rather than its core processing business. For long-term investors, the key issue is price discovery: a lot of this size, offered at a fixed starting price, requires a buyer able to absorb a large block on UPCOM, where liquidity is thinner than on HOSE or HNX. Until a buyer emerges or the terms are revised, the overhang of state-owned shares remains a structural feature of SEA’s shareholder base.

What to Watch

• Any HNX or SCIC announcement of a revised starting price or restructured lot size for the SEA stake.
• A new registration and deposit deadline, which would indicate a third auction attempt.
• Q4/2026 and full-year 2026 earnings, to show whether profit growth continues to rely on associate income.
• SCIC’s broader divestment schedule for 2026-2027, which may reveal whether SEA is reprioritised.
• Foreign-ownership and major-shareholder filings on UPCOM for signs of block accumulation.