Airports Corporation of Viet Nam operates 22 airports in Viet Nam. — Photo vneconomictimes.com

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Airports Corporation of Viet Nam (ACV) off-loaded 77.8 million shares at VND14,300 (US$0.63) each, 3.47 per cent of the company, in its initial public offering on the HCM Stock Exchange on December 10.

ACV, a state owned company of the Ministry of Transport (MoT), has VND22.43 trillion ($996.89 million) in charter capital, is the largest enterprise in Viet Nam's transport sector and manages 22 of the country's international and domestic airports.

Apart from the IPO, five per cent of company shares amounting to 9.2 million were sold to company employees. The State retains a capital ratio of 75 per cent of the company's equity and announced that a 20 per cent stake would be available to strategic investors after the IPO.

Vu Anh Minh, MoT director of the business management department, said after the IPO yesterday, French Aeroport de Paris (ADP) and the Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BIDV) contacted them with investor offers. He said ADP wanted the whole 20 per cent and BIDV asked for 5 per cent.

Minh told the press that due to the large scale of ACV, its strategic partner must be capable of supporting its development, and said at partner with experience in an aviation terminal management would have an advantage.

The ACV has large projects on its horizon, such as developing the new HCM City airport with a projected capacity of 100 million passengers, and promising growth figures. The International Air Transport Association predicted that passenger traffic in Viet Nam would grow about 7.3 per cent between 2014 and 2034 – higher than the global average of 4.6 per cent and the Asia-Pacific's 5.7 per cent.

In the first half this year, ACV recorded VND4.053 trillion ($179.7 million) in revenue and a profit of VND533 billion ($23.63 million), a 153 per cent increase in profit compared to same term last year.

Currently, ACV shares are only traded in the over-the-counter market. — VNS