Passengers get off a Vietnam Airline plane. The national carrier will launch an IPO on November 4. — Photo vntic.vn

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) ─ Two domestic organisations have registered to buy more than 48.3 million shares of national carrier Vietnam Airlines, the HCM City Stock Exchange (HSX) announced on Monday.

The number of shares is equivalent to nearly 98 per cent of the 49 million shares that the company will auction in its initial public offering (IPO) on the southern bourse on November 14. The HSX did not reveal the names of any specific institutions.

As many as 1,578 domestic individual investors have registered to buy 922,500 shares, and 28 foreign individual investors have registered to purchase 120,800 shares, while no foreign organisations will take part in the IPO.

A Vietnam Airlines prospectus, issued in September, states that the initial price for the bid will be VND22,300 (US$1.06) per share.

The State-owned company is being privatised, with State capital of about VND10.58 trillion (US$503.81 million) being retained, and additional shares worth about VND3.53 trillion ($168.10 million) being issued.

After the equitisation, the State will own 75 per cent and private investors will hold 25 per cent of the company's equity. Of the 25 per cent, the IPO shares will make up 3.475 per cent, while 20 per cent will be offered to strategic foreign investors and 1.525 per cent will be reserved for employees and the trade union.

According to the prospectus, Vietnam Airlines' equitisation value was nearly VND57.05 trillion, or $2.74 billion, on December 31, 2013. ─ VNS