During the first quarter, 727 investors took part in the auctions and registered to buy a total of 296.9 million shares, nearly twice the amount of shares offered in the auctions. — Photo cafef.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The State offloaded 147.7 million shares worth VND2 trillion (US$89.7 million) in State-owned companies in 16 initial public offering (IPO) auctions during the first quarter of this year, the Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX) reported yesterday.

This marked an increase of 27.5 per cent in selling value from the figure in last year's first quarter.

During the first quarter, 727 investors took part in the auctions and registered to buy a total of 296.9 million shares, nearly twice the amount of shares offered in the auctions.

Of the IPO auctions in the first quarter, five were held to sell the State's capital in water companies in the provinces of Yen Bai, Vinh Phuc, Lao Cai, Hai Duong and Thanh Hoa.

In March only, the HNX organised four IPO auctions and sold the entire shares offered at three of those auctions, including the IPO of Mai Dong Co Ltd, Vietnam Book Corporation (Savina) and Quang Ninh Bus Station and Seaport Co Ltd.

Investors were also willing to pay higher prices than the starting price in order to buy all offered shares.

For example, the bidding prices for each share of Quang Ninh Bus Station and Seaport Co Ltd and for Savina were five times and 2.5 times, respectively, the starting prices in those auctions.

During the IPO of Quang Ninh Bus Station and Seaport Co Ltd, 43 investors registered to buy more than 22.8 million shares, 14 times the number of shares offered in the auction. The State also earned VND78.5 billion in this auction, an increase of 27.4 per cent from the expected income. — VNS