PetroVietnam Gas to cut initial offering by 50% to avoid flooding market

PetroVietnam Gas Corp., a unit of Vietnam Oil & Gas Group, plans to reduce the size of its initial public offering by about 50 % to avoid flooding the stock market with too many shares.

PetroVietnam Gas Corp., a unit of Vietnam Oil & Gas Group, plans to reduce the size of its initial public offering by about 50 % to avoid flooding the stock market with too many shares.

The fuel supplier expects to raise at least 2.9 trillion dong ($149 million) selling 95 million shares, or a 5 % stake, General Director Do Khang Ninh said in a telephone interview from Ho Chi Minh City today. Ninh had said Sept. 6 that PetroVietnam Gas would raise 5.87 trillion dong by selling a 10 % stake.

“We revised the share sale plan because we were afraid a 10 % stake would be too much for the market,” Ninh said today. The sale would take place sometime in October and the minimum bid remains unchanged at 31,000 dong a share, he said.

Ninh declined to give a timeframe for when the company may sell another 5 % stake to the public.

The benchmark VN Index gained 0.4 % to 449.01 at the 11 a.m. close. The gauge has declined 9.3 % so far this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

PetroVietnam Gas, which supplies fuel to produce 40 % of Vietnam’s electrical output and 30 % of the nation’s fertilizer, will probably be listed on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, the country’s main bourse, a year after the share sale, according to a statement on the company’s website. – Bloomberg

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