The decision, which took effect on August 1, means that Bennet will replace Nguyen Thanh Nam, who is Sabeco’s current CEO and represents the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) at Vietnam’s largest domestic brewer, according to an announcement on Sabeco’s website.

Bennet, a Singaporean business man, was appointed deputy CEO of Sabeco in May and currently is the boad chairman of Sabeco’s recently established subsidiary – Saigon Beer with charter capital of VND10 million (US$432). 

Meanwhile, Koh Poh Tiong remains Sabeco’s board chairman and the brewer’s legal representative. 

At the meeting, Sabeco’s shareholders approved a new board including seven members, of which four were nominated by ThaiBev – controlled by tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi through its local unit Vietnam Beverage. 

ThaiBev-nominated members sitting on Sabeco’s board are Koh Poh Tiong, Tran Kim Nga, Michael Chye Hin Feh, and Pramoah Phornprapha. 

Of the remaining three members, Chief Accountant Nguyen Tien Dung and Luong Thanh Hai are MOIT’s representatives.

Last December, the Vietnamese government sold nearly 54% stake or 343.42 million shares in Sabeco to Vietnam Beverage for US$4.89 billion. The only other bidder, a Vietnamese individual, bought 20,000 shares, or 0.003%, at a price of US$14.07 each. 

Sabeco set its pre-tax profit target in 2018 at VND4 trillion (US$173.2 million), down 19% year-on-year, and revenue of VND36 trillion (US$1.56 billion). Therefore, this would be the third consecutive year that Sabeco will experience a decline in profit.

Nevertheless, the company targeted its market share to increase by five percentage points from the current 40%, producing 1.8 billion liters of beer, an increase of nearly 1% year-on-year. 

In 2017, Sabeco produced 1.77 billion liters of beer, an increase of 6.6% year-on-year, while the second largest domestic brewer, Habeco (18% market share), brewed 657.6 million liters, down 6.5%.