HÀ NỘI — The Việt Nam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) announced at a shareholder meeting on Wednesday that it will list on the stock market in mid April.

The company plans to list more than 1.29 billion shares on the HCM Stock Exchange (HOSE) between April 18 and 20 of this year.

Petrolimex chairman Bùi Ngọc Bảo said at the meeting that listing on the HOSE as the major bourse has higher standards and requirements for listed companies, and those standards/requirements are almost alike international ones.

HOSE is also the exchange that gathers the biggest companies in Việt Nam with its VN30 Index, which tracks the performance of the largest 30 firms by market capitalisation, Bảo said.

“Petrolimex will be admitted to the VN30 Index. This is the target and expectation by both the company and its shareholders,” Bảo said.

Debut price for Petrolimex remains unknown but Bảo said the price would be calculated by the market but still ensure the interests of shareholders.

Petrolimex would announce its debut share price when the first trading day was near, he added.

The IPO price will not be lower than the price level, at which Petrolimex sold a part of its capital to JX Nippon Oil & Energy, a member of the Japanese energy group JX Holdings.

JX Nippon Oil and Energy in late 2015 spent VNĐ39,017 (US$1.71) per share to purchase 103.5 million new shares issued by Petrolimex. The deal was worth VNĐ4 trillion.

The deal was considered profitable for the Japanese company, as many investors have offered to buy shares of Petrolimex at higher price levels.

The trading price of Petrolimex’s shares on the Over-the-Counter (OTC) market had varied between VNĐ47,000-50,000 per share, Bảo said. Petrolimex’s shares were traded at VNĐ49,000 per share on Thursday on the OTC market.

The Japanese firm will be the only strategic investor at Petrolimex, and it may increase its ownership in the Vietnamese petroleum company, Bảo said.

JX Nippon Oil and Energy is holding an 8 per cent stake in Petrolimex. The Japanese investor could raise its ownership in the Vietnamese side up to 25 per cent.

After the debut, Petrolimex will become one of the top 10 largest listed companies by market capitalisation, according to Sài Gòn Securities Inc (SSI). The market capitalisation of Petrolimex on the debut is estimated at $2 billion. The company will rank fifth on the major bourse by total asset, and its earnings per share will rank second after dairy producer Vinamilk (VNM).

Petrolimex also planned to list on the Singapore’s stock market as Singapore is a financial centre of the region and many energy firms were trading on the Singapore Exchange, Bảo said.

Petrolimex is now the biggest petroleum dealer in Việt Nam, occupying 48-50 per cent of the total market. The petroleum business unit contributes 50 per cent of the group’s earnings. — VNS