HÀ NỘI — State-owned shipping firm Việt Nam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines) has announced a second share auction just three weeks after its initial public offering on September 5.

 

The number of shares on offer this time is nearly 483.4 million, equivalent to a 34.4 per cent stake.

 

These shares were not sold at the first public offering and were intended for employees. The offer price will remain unchanged.

 

Interested investors, including foreigners, must register to take part in the auction before 4pm on September 30.

 

On September 5, Vinalines put up 488.8 million shares, or a 34.8 per cent stake, on sale but only 5.43 million shares were taken at an average price of VNĐ10,002 (US$0.43).

 

Besides the company’s business performance, Vinalines acting CEO Nguyễn Cảnh Tĩnh attributed the company’s lack of appeal to the sluggish growth of the shipping industry.

 

He revealed that a Korean shipping company was urgently working with Vinalines to assess the investment opportunity. It is targeting about a 10 per cent equity buy-out.

 

However, due to the one-week offering, Tĩnh predicted the Korean investor would be unlikely to participate in this auction.

 

Vinalines is slated to become a joint-stock company by the end of this year or early next year. Shares in the company will be traded on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) within 90 days from the IPO date.

 

Vinaline, founded in 1995, is a 100 per cent State-owned enterprise. It was transformed into a holding company in 2006 and a State-owned one member limited company in 2010.

 

In 2017, its consolidated financial statement recorded total sales of VNĐ13.57 trillion, down 7.4 per cent year-on-year, and a loss of VNĐ537 billion from business activities. However, other profits of VNĐ1.5 trillion lifted the company’s after-tax profit to VNĐ748 billion, double the previous year.

 

Ending 2017, Vinalines had total assets of over VNĐ28 trillion but its liabilities were up to VNĐ20.2 trillion. The company still incurred cumulative losses of VNĐ3.25 trillion.

 

In the first half of this year, Vinalines recorded revenue of VNĐ6.3 trillion and net profit of VNĐ23.9 billion. — VNS