Passengers get off a Vietnam Airlines plane. The national carrier will sell its entire stake in Techcombank, a move said to concentrate on its core business. — Photo vietnamonline.com

HA NOI (Biz Hub) ― National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines will sell more than 24 million shares of Techcombank, unloading its entire 2.7-per-cent stake, Viet Capital Securities announced on its website on Friday.

The common shares, each having a face value of VND10,000 (US$0.47), will be auctioned at the Ha Noi Stock Exchange on September 26 at an initial price of VND12,100 ($0.57) per share.

The carrier also registered to sell nearly 828,000 ten-year convertible bonds with a face value of VND100,000 ($4.76) each, through an auction at the exchange on the same day. The initial bid will be VND132,700 ($6.3) per bond.

Vietnam Airlines will gain about VND400 billion ($19.05 million) if the transactions are successful.

Market observers said these were among the first steps of the carrier in a road map to withdraw capital from non-core lines of business, in accordance with a restructuring scheme approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung for the 2012-15 period.

Viet Capital is a consultant and share issuer for the bids. Investors can register to buy the shares and bonds between August 30 and September 19.

Early this month, Vietnam Airlines said it planned to launch its long-delayed initial public offering (IPO) in the second quarter of next year. It is expected to obtain $200 million by selling 383 million shares at the IPO.

Techcombank on Monday got a nod from the State Bank to increase its equity by VND30 billion ($1.43 million) to VND8.87 trillion ($421.3 million). ― VNS