Vietnam National Shipping Lines, a state-owned shipping firm, is seeking to raise around VND4.89 trillion (US$210 million) from an initial public offering (IPO) next month, bookrunner Saigon Securities Inc. said on Wednesday.
The company, better known as Vinalines, will auction 488.82 million shares, or a 34.8 percent stake, at a price of VND10,000 ($2.33) a piece at the Hanoi Stock Exchange on September 5, Saigon Securities said in a filing.
The IPO is part of Vietnam’s broader privatisation programme to increase the efficiency and performance of state-owned firms, and to fill government coffers as public debt nears the mandated ceiling of 65 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP).
Vinalines reported a net profit of VND748 billion ($32.19 million) last year, up 92 percent from 2016, after suffering losses in the early 2010s when several of its executives were jailed for mismanagement and embezzlement.
The company’s total assets were VND28.14 trillion ($1.21 billion) at the end of last year, down three percent from end-2016, Vinalines said.
The Vietnamese government has ambitious privatisation plans and is aiming for IPOs for 64 state companies this year.
Vinalines’ IPO will be the latest of the government’s divestment after it raised $922 million from selling a stake in Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank in an IPO in April.
