WORDS ON THE STREET 70th anniversary of Hanoi's Liberation Day Vietnam - Asia 2023 Smart City Summit Hanoi celebrates 15 years of administrative boundary adjustment 12th Vietnam-France decentrialized cooperation conference 31st Sea Games - Vietnam 2021 Covid-19 Pandemic
Jan 26, 2018 / 15:25

PVOil raises US$184 million from IPO

PetroVietnam Oil (PVOil) successfully sold 20% of its charter capital through an initial public offering (IPO) for VND4.1 trillion (US$184 million) in proceeds, according to a company statement on January 25.

As such, the total shares offered to sell numbered 206 million shares with the initial price of VND13,400 (US$0.6). 
 
PVOil raises US$184 million from IPO.
PVOil raises US$184 million from IPO.
The proceeds exceeded the government’s target of raising at least $122 million from the IPO. With a 20-22% market share, PVOIL is the second largest petroleum distributor in the country after Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex). The firm operates a network of 540 gas stations nationwide under the company-owned company-operated (COCO) model and 3,000 gas stations under the dealer-owned dealer-operated (DODO) model. 

The demand at the IPO exceeded supply by 2.3 times, as nearly 100 domestic and foreign institutional investors participated in the auction. The company’s shares will start trading on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) on the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) three months after the IPO. Through a private placement, PVOil will offer an additional 44.72% shares to strategic investors, resulting in a reduction of the government ownership to 35.1%. Through this equitization process PVOil is expected to raise a total of US$400 million. This will be the much needed financial means for the oil firm to triple the number of its gas station to 1,550 outlets by 2020. 

Specifically, 850 gas stations will be acquired through mergers & acquisitions (M&A) or construction, while the remaining 200 will be under a leasing contract. Along with other activities, PVOil’s investments in 2018-2020 are expected to total at nearly VND 11 trillion (US$495 million). PVOil’s consolidated revenue in 2017 is estimated at VND56 trillion (US$2.4 billion), 165% of the annual plan, while the profit of the parent company is VND325 billion (US$14 million), and of other subsidiaries is VND154 billion (US$6.9 million). Additionally, PVOil’s consolidated pre-tax profit totaled at VND405 billion (US$17 million), an increase of 125% year’s plan.

Previously, eight investors have expressed interest in becoming strategic shareholders in the company to enter the Vietnamese petroleum market. Sovico Holdings of the Vietnamese billionaire Phuong Thao, founder of Vietjet Air, was one of these, with the others being Shell, Idemitsu, Kuwait Petroleum International, Puma, SK, PTT, and Sacom Investment Fund, informed Cao Hoai Duong, PVOil’s CEO, on the sidelines of a roadshow on January 12. 

Last week, the Vietnamese government raised VND5.57 trillion ($245 million) by selling 7.79% of refinery operator Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical.

Next week, the government will sell a 20% stake in another PetroVietnam subsidiary, PV Power. It expects to raise at least $295 million from the IPO.