PetroVietnam Power Corporation (PV Power) shares jumped 4.7 per cent following the company’s debut on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) on Monday.

PV Power started listing more than 2.34 billion shares on the southern bourse with code POW at the initial price of VND14,900 per share (US$0.64).

Shares ended Monday at VND15,600 per share, up 4.7 per cent from the initial price level.

The company’s market capitalisation reached VND36.53 trillion ($1.57 billion) at the end of the trading day.

On December 28, PV Power cancelled the trading of more than 467.8 million shares on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) to move to HoSE.

The company debuted on UPCoM on March 6, 2018 at VND17,500 per share after offloading 467.8 million shares at its initial public offering (IPO) in January 2018.

The firm shares fell by as much as 37 per cent to VND11,000 per share on July 12-17, 2018 during the UPCoM period before rising back to VND16,000 per share in the last trading day on December 27, 2018.

PV Power is among the country’s biggest power producers, recording a total output of 21 billion kilowatts per hour (kWh) last year.

The company earned total VND33.36 trillion in revenue for the past 12 months, beating its forecast by 6 per cent.

The pre-tax profit for 2018 reached VND2.31 trillion – an increase of 24 per cent from the full-year expectation.

In 2019, PV Power is hoping total production will reach 21.6 billion kWh, VND32.7 trillion in revenue and VND2.3 trillion in post-tax profit.

According to the company chairman Ho Cong Ky, the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PVN) – parent firm of PV Power – will offload parts of its 80 per cent stake in the latter via the stock market.

PV Power had previously failed to seek the strategic investor after completing the sale of 467.8 million shares at the IPO earlier this year.

Under existing regulations, a post-IPO State-owned enterprise (SOE) must look for and select the strategic investor within three-four months from the IPO.

It was difficult for the firm to find and pick a suitable strategic investor in such a short period, especially foreign investors that wanted to assess the targeted local business, Ky said at the firm stock debut.

“Therefore, the PVN, on behalf of the Government, will sell the State capital it manages via the stock market once the divestment plan is approved by the authorities.”

PV Power inks LNG deal

PV Power and PetroVietnam Gas Corporation (PV Gas) on Thursday signed an agreement on the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the former’s Nhon Trach 3 and 4 power plants.

PV Gas’ Thi Vai LNG Terminal and Nhon Trach 3 and 4 power plants are among top-priority energy projects developed by PVN and are key to the development of the Vietnamese oil and gas industry.

Thi Vai LNG Terminal is developed by PV Gas with total capacity of one million tonnes of LNG per year. It is scheduled to operate in 2021-22 and total capacity is designed to reach three million tonnes per year by 2025.

Nhon Trach 3 and 4 power plants are developed by PV Power as the first to use LNG for electricity production. The plants are designed to produce nine billion kWh each year with a productivity of 1,500 megawatts. — VNS