Vietnam Airlines seeks IPO approval
Vietnam Airlines, the country’s national carrier, said it expects to get approval in June for the number of shares to be sold at an initial public offering (IPO) as the government speeds share sales to win overseas investors.
“The airline will offer a suitable stake based on market demand,” chief executive officer Pham Ngoc Minh said. The carrier has been valued at $2.74 billion, according to the Saigon Times.
The reported figure was included in a report Vietnam Airlines submitted to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and the transport ministry, he said. Approval for the valuation and the stake to be offered in the IPO, planned for September, will be given by Dung, he said.
Vietnam is speeding share offerings, with a target to sell stakes in more than 400 state-run companies by the end of next year, as part of efforts to restructure the economy and lure more overseas investors. Foreign investors have shown little interest so far this year in Vietnam’s two dozen IPOs of state companies, which did not meet capital raising goals. Vietnam Airlines is one of the biggest state-owned companies being considered for stake sales in the country.
”Foreign investors are very interested in buying a stake in Vietnam Airlines as it is among a few large size state-owned enterprises that operate profitably,” said Alan Pham, Ho Chi Minh City-based chief economist at VinaCapital Group, Vietnam’s biggest fund manager that oversees about $1.6 billion of assets. ”It is considered a crown jewel of state companies.”
Besides the national carrier, investors have also been awaiting big companies such as Vietnam National Textile & Garment and Vietnam Mobile Telecom Services, known as Mobifone, to go public, said Pham.
The government has been trying to conduct an IPO of the state-owned Vietnam Airlines since at least 2010 amid intensifying domestic competition.
Vietnam Airlines will also seek a strategic investor in the fourth quarter, Minh said. The carrier expects to carry 15.8 million passengers this year, compared with 14.7 million in 2013, he said. Revenue is estimated to have risen 4.5 per cent to $700 million in the three months ended March 2014, he said.
Vietnam Airlines said in September that it worked with advisers including Morgan Stanley and Citigroup to evaluate its assets for equitisation.
Vietnam Airlines, the country's national carrier, said it expects to get approval in June for the number of shares to be sold at an initial public offering (IPO) as the government speeds share sales to win overseas investors. "The airline will offer a suitable stake based on market demand,'' chief executive officer Pham Ngoc Minh said. The carrier has been valued at $2.74 billion, according to the Saigon Times. The reported figure was included in a report Vietnam Airlines submitted to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and the transport ministry, he said. Approval for the valuation and the stake to...
Vietnam Airlines, the country’s national carrier, said it expects to get approval in June for the number of shares to be sold at an initial public offering (IPO) as the government speeds share sales to win overseas investors.
“The airline will offer a suitable stake based on market demand,” chief executive officer Pham Ngoc Minh said. The carrier has been valued at $2.74 billion, according to the Saigon Times.
The reported figure was included in a report Vietnam Airlines submitted to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and the transport ministry, he said. Approval for the valuation and the stake to be offered in the IPO, planned for September, will be given by Dung, he said.
Vietnam is speeding share offerings, with a target to sell stakes in more than 400 state-run companies by the end of next year, as part of efforts to restructure the economy and lure more overseas investors. Foreign investors have shown little interest so far this year in Vietnam’s two dozen IPOs of state companies, which did not meet capital raising goals. Vietnam Airlines is one of the biggest state-owned companies being considered for stake sales in the country.
”Foreign investors are very interested in buying a stake in Vietnam Airlines as it is among a few large size state-owned enterprises that operate profitably,” said Alan Pham, Ho Chi Minh City-based chief economist at VinaCapital Group, Vietnam’s biggest fund manager that oversees about $1.6 billion of assets. ”It is considered a crown jewel of state companies.”
Besides the national carrier, investors have also been awaiting big companies such as Vietnam National Textile & Garment and Vietnam Mobile Telecom Services, known as Mobifone, to go public, said Pham.
The government has been trying to conduct an IPO of the state-owned Vietnam Airlines since at least 2010 amid intensifying domestic competition.
Vietnam Airlines will also seek a strategic investor in the fourth quarter, Minh said. The carrier expects to carry 15.8 million passengers this year, compared with 14.7 million in 2013, he said. Revenue is estimated to have risen 4.5 per cent to $700 million in the three months ended March 2014, he said.
Vietnam Airlines said in September that it worked with advisers including Morgan Stanley and Citigroup to evaluate its assets for equitisation.
