PetroVietnam Power Corporation (PV Power) will sell 20 per cent of its shares at its initial public offering (IPO) in late November or early December, Vietnam News Agency reported on Wednesday.

PV Power General Director Nguyen Xuan Hoa said the proportion of shares sold to the public during the IPO will be 20 per cent, instead of 4-5 per cent as previously announced.

This increase in the number of shares is because many investors are interested in energy stocks and it is also in line with the stance of the State steering committee on corporate equitisation.

Under the PV Power’s equitisation plan submitted to the Government on August 15, PV Power’s business operation is not listed in the industries of which the State must have controlling stake. Thus, from now until 2018, the State will reduce its ownership from 100 per cent to 51 per cent.

Specifically, 28.882 per cent of the shares will be sold to strategic investors, 20 per cent will be publicly traded through the IPO and 0.118 per cent will be issued to employees.

According to Hoa, if PV Power’s equitisation plan is approved by the Prime Minister in October, PV Power will quickly launch an IPO in late November or early December. The sale of PV Power shares to strategic investors will also be made following the IPO’s success.

Hoa added that PV Power held a roadshow to introduce the company’s potential to investors ahead of the IPO, which included the participation of many domestic and foreign financial institutions and funds such as Dragon Capital, Standard Chartered, VietFund AM and Mirae Assets Global Investments, as well as Duxton, Phatra Capital and City Pacific.

PV Power is the second-largest electricity producer in Viet Nam after Electricity of Vietnam. PV Power is managing plants with total capacity of 4,208MW. Last year, the company’s plants generated 21 billion kWh of electricity output. — VNS