The Vietnam Airlines Corporation will list 1.4 billion shares on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange in April, 2019.

The corporation is currently listed on the UPCoM with the code HVN. Its shares were priced at VND34,100 per share on Wednesday, equivalent to nearly VND48.24 trillion in market capitalisation.

Vietnam Airlines launched an initial public offering (IPO) in 2014. The largest shareholder was the Ministry of Transport, owning 86 per cent of the capital. In 2016, Japan’s biggest airline ANA Holdings bought an 8.8 per cent stake of Vietnam Airlines worth US$108 million.

The listing takes place in the context of increasing competition in the Vietnamese aviation market. Vietjet, an airline with market capitalisation of about $3 billion, is the leading player in the domestic market with 43 per cent. Vietnam Airlines, which owns 51 per cent of Jetstar Pacific, had a market share of less than 42 per cent in 2017.

Malaysian airline AirAsia recently signed a co-operation agreement with Thien Minh Travel Company to strengthen its presence in the Vietnamese aviation market, which is expected to grow 13 per cent this year. — VNS