Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines) will nearly double its shares on offer in an upcoming IPO after an unexpected end to the search of strategic investors, informed the Ministry of Transport (MoT) on its website.
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Nevertheless, the move failed to materialize, as "SK Securities does not qualify to purchase Vinalines' stake," Hai added.
Following the equitization scheme recently approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, 207.2 million shares or a 14.8% stake of Vinalines were supposed to be offered to strategic investors.
However, as Vinalines failed to find a suitable strategic investor, the MoT has now decided to offer the said amount shares in Vinalines' IPO at price of VND10,000 (US$0.43) apiece.
After adjustment, Vinalines is scheduled to offer 488.81 million shares or 34.8% stake in the IPO. As such, the government will retain 913 million shares, equivalent to a 65% stake. Another 2.8 million shares or 0.2% of charter capital will be sold to employees, Hai informed.
The IPO is expected to take place at the Hanoi Stock Exchange on September 5, he added.
The firm's IPO has been delayed several times as it needed to undergo a longer-than-expected restructuring process.
Vinalines currently manages and operates a diverse fleet including container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers, and other types of cargo vessels. The Vinalines fleet has large bulk carriers up to 73,000 DWT, 1,800 TEU container ships, and 50,000 DWT oil tankers.
Of the total of 130.9 million tons of cargo shipped last year by Vietnamese vessels, Vinalines' fleet took 20.2%.
By the end of 2017, Vinalines had completed divestment in 39 companies for VND2.4 trillion (US$105 million) in return, resulting in a net profit of VND360 billion (US$15.8 million).
Overall, the firm saw its debt reduced by VND10.6 trillion (US$440 million) in period 2014 - 2017, according to Le Quang Trung, vice general director of Vinalines.
In the first six months, Vinalines posted revenue of VND533 billion (US$22.83 million) and net loss of VND1.14 trillion (US$48.83 million). For the last six months, Vinalines targeted profit of VND143 billion (US$6.12 million).
