Vietnam’s Vinalines seeks to raise $210m in Sept 5 IPO

HANOI: Vietnam National Shipping Lines, a state-owned shipping firm, is seeking to raise around 4.89 trillion dong ($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 per cent stake, at a price of 10,000 dong 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 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP).

Vinalines reported a net profit of 748 billion dong last year, up 92 per cent 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 28.14 trillion dong at the end of last year, down 3 per cent 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.