Competition to reward talent with cheap stocks, many stories behind

Many businesses pay bonuses in preferential shares - Photo: QUANG DINH

Talent stock bonus, 10 years to transfer

FPT Corporation announces the issuance of shares under the employee stock option program for the company's senior leaders in 2024. The list of leaders registered to buy is attached.

Previously, this technology group approved the policy of issuing more than 3.3 million shares at VND10,000/share to leaders with a transfer restriction period of up to 10 years.

In addition, FPT also issued an additional batch of more than 7.3 million shares at VND 10,000/share to employees from level 4 (equivalent to experts and department heads).

The list announced has 226 employees receiving shares, the person who bought the most with 277,852 shares. This batch of shares is restricted from transfer for 3 years.

In addition to FPT, a series of enterprises are also actively issuing ESOP.

As Khang Dien House (KDH) has approved the list of employees participating in the ESOP issuance at the end of last September.

Accordingly, a total of 233 KDH leaders and employees participated with the number of shares entitled to purchase 10.8 million.

The offering price is VND17,000/share, 55% lower than the market price of VND37,500. This ESOP amount will be restricted from transfer for 1 year.

Similarly, Gelex (GEX) has reported the results of issuing 8 million ESOP shares at an offering price of VND10,000/share. Accordingly, 45 employees of GEX have purchased more than 7.93 million shares, equivalent to more than 99% of the total issued shares. These shares will be restricted from transfer for up to 3 years.

Previously, PNJ distributed more than 3.34 million ESOP shares at VND20,000/share to 176 people. The ESOP price is only equivalent to more than 20% of PNJ's market price. Banks such as Techcombank , VIB, NAB... are also not out of the ESOP "game".

Many places release, cheap price still unsold

Although the price is more favorable than the market and the transfer restriction period is only 1 year, besides the "hot" stocks, many ESOP shares are still "unsold".

As in the case of BAF Vietnam Agricultural Joint Stock Company, this enterprise only sold more than 2.48 million ESOP shares, and has not yet distributed more than 4.68 million shares.

International Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (IDP) also did not distribute the remaining 725,528 ESOP shares even though the issuance price was 10,000 VND/share, much cheaper than the market price of more than 230,000 VND.

In addition, the issuance of ESOP received dissatisfaction from the existing shareholder group. A shareholder once questioned FPT, whether too many ESOPs would dilute the shares and affect the rights of other shareholders.

Speaking to Tuoi Tre , the director of a securities company said that by combining the guarantee of a low issuance rate (about 1% of total outstanding shares) with the condition of limited transfer (commonly 1-3 years, maximum 10 years), the level of dilution will not be worrisome.

According to this person, ESOP is increasingly being implemented by many businesses as a strategy to retain talent or to reward employees instead of cash.

However, experts note that internal shareholders will only truly benefit from ESOP when the stock price remains stable or increases.

Suppose an employee buys an ESOP at a preferential price of about 10,000 VND, but after 3 years it can only be transferred, at which point the market price is 5,000 VND, there will be no profit but a loss. In reality, in the market, it is not uncommon for stocks to "slip" miserably, from a price of more than 100,000 VND to more than 10,000 VND.

Furthermore, even though the issuance rate is controlled, the fact that the offering price of ESOP shares is much lower than the market price will still cause a certain conflict of interest. When the amount of preferential shares is "released", the supply will put pressure on the market price.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/dua-thuong-dam-nhan-tai-bang-co-phieu-gia-re-nhieu-chuyen-dang-sau-20241013210117999.htm