Vietnam raises $184m by selling 20pc of PVOil in initial public offering

The Vietnamese government has raised VND4.18 trillion ($184 million) by selling a 20 per cent stake in PVOIL via an initial public offering (IPO) on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange on Thursday, reports dealstreetasia.com.
The proceeds exceeded the government's target of raising at least $122 million from the IPO. With a 20-22 per cent market share, PVOIL is the second largest petroleum distributor in the country after Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex).
Demand in the PetroVietnam subsidiary's 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. PVOIL will further offer an additional 44.72 per cent stake to strategic investors through a private placement.
The company's CEO Cao Hoai Duong said the strategic stake sale has attracted interest from 10 buyers, including five foreign investors. DEALSTREETASIA had earlier reported that interested buyers include Sovico Holdings, which is backed by VietJet Air CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, as well as Shell, Idemitsu, Kuwait Petroleum International and Thailand's PTT.
Last week, the Vietnamese government raised 5.57 trillion dong ($245 million) by selling a 7.79 per cent stake in refinery operator Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical. Next week, the government will sell a 20 per cent stake in another PetroVietnam subsidiary, PV Power. It expects to raise at least $295 million from the IPO.