The auction of the controlling stake in Seaprodex, scheduled for November 2, 2026, will not be held. According to Báo Đầu tư Chứng khoán on October 29, the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) said that by the registration and deposit deadline of 3:30 pm on October 26, no investor had registered to buy the stake in Vietnam Seaproducts Corporation (Seaprodex, ticker SEA on UPCoM) held by SCIC.Báo Đầu tư Chứng khoán
This is the second time in a row. The stake is exactly where it was, and SCIC still decides the major matters at the company. This post walks through each milestone of the deal to show where it stands, and which document will reveal the next step.
Before 2026: A company with a changing cast of large shareholders
The divestment story at Seaprodex did not start this year. The company's most frequently mentioned asset is a plot of nearly 1,500 m2 at 2-4-6 Dong Khoi, Sai Gon Ward, Ho Chi Minh City. In 2011 the site was planned for a 20-storey office, retail and hotel tower with total capital of VND 1,500 billion. Seaprodex signed a partnership with Geleximco and completed the architectural plan in 2014. In 2016 the plan was cancelled because a major shareholder did not agree, and the cooperation ended.Báo Đầu tư Chứng khoán
Large non-state shareholders then changed several times. Nova Bac Nam 79 JSC bought 20.1% and exited within 2017. In 2024, GELEX Group and Do Investment Fund Management JSC bought a combined 23.92% of charter capital, then sold most of it in August 2025. Through all of these changes, SCIC's stake stayed the same.Báo Đầu tư Chứng khoán
September: The first offering draws no registrations
SCIC put the whole block of 79,228,000 SEA shares, or 63.38% of capital, up for auction as a single lot: the buyer must take all of it, with no partial purchases. By the registration deadline nobody had posted a deposit, and HNX did not hold the session planned for September 29.Báo Đầu tư Chứng khoán
On the board, SEA closed at VND 70,000 on September 21. Four sessions later, on September 25, it stood at VND 52,000, down about 25.7%. At VND 70,000, the VND 107,400 per-share reserve price was about 53.4% above the market price. That is our own calculation from the two figures above, not a number published by HNX or SCIC.
October 9: Same lot, same price, new rules
For the second round, HNX issued auction rules together with Decision 1251/QĐ-SGDHN of October 9, signed by HNX's General Director. The lot is still 79,228,000 shares, and the reserve price for the whole lot is still VND 8,509.1 billion, or VND 107,400 per share, exactly the same as the first round. The auction was set for 9:00 am on November 2.Báo Đầu tư Chứng khoán
On the same day, October 9, SEA closed at VND 57,000 on 5,100 shares traded. Volume this thin shows how lightly the stock trades, a point worth keeping in mind for every price in the sections below.
October 26: The deposit book is still empty
At 3:30 pm on October 26 the registration and deposit window closed with no investor. Under Article 13 of the rules, the auction does not meet the conditions to be held.Báo Đầu tư Chứng khoán
On October 26, SEA fell 9.75% to VND 50,000 on 31,400 shares. The drop coincided with the deposit deadline, but SEA trades very thinly and had been drifting lower all October, so there is not enough basis to pin it on the registration outcome alone. At the October 28 close, SEA stood at VND 48,100, with only 800 shares changing hands all session.Báo Đầu tư Chứng khoán
A fixed price and a widening gap
Putting the milestones side by side shows something no single news item does. SCIC held the price at VND 107,400 across both rounds, while SEA's market price went from VND 70,000 on September 21 to VND 48,100 on October 28, a fall of about 31.3%. Because the offer price did not move, the gap between the reserve price and the board widened by itself, from about 53% to about 123% (our own calculation from the reserve price and closing prices).
Valued at VND 48,100, the 79,228,000 shares come to roughly VND 3,810.9 billion, less than half of the VND 8,509.1 billion reserve price. This is only a conversion. A controlling stake carries the right to run the company, including the Dong Khoi land, so a buyer may value it very differently from a few hundred shares traded per session. A market price with volume like October 28's also says nothing about the level at which a 79-million-share block could be sold.
So two empty books should not be read as proof that the offer price is wrong. What they show is narrower: at this price, and with the whole-lot condition as it stands, no institution or individual has so far been willing to post a deposit.
What stays unchanged until the next document
With the stake not yet transferred, Seaprodex's ownership remains as of June 30, 2026: SCIC holds 63.38%, Ngan Hiep Real Estate JSC 24.03%, Redwood Investment JSC 8.44%, and minority shareholders 4.15%.Báo Đầu tư Chứng khoán With more than 50% of capital, SCIC remains the decision-maker at the shareholders' meeting, from board seats to the direction of the Dong Khoi site. Ngan Hiep and Redwood stay in the position of large minority shareholders.
For holders of SEA, this means the governance picture has not changed after two rounds of offering. The change-of-control scenario did not happen at either the September 29 or the November 2 milestone.
The deal now sits at a point where every variable is in SCIC's hands: keep the same price and try a third time, set a new price, or change the method of sale. SCIC's next announcement on this stake will be the document that answers that question. When it comes out, the first number to check is the reserve price: whether it is still VND 107,400 per share or has changed.