Hanoi (VNA) - ThreeState-owned enterprises (SOEs) will make initial public offerings (IPOs) inMarch, floating 2.5 trillion VND (110 million USD) worth of stakes in themarket in the second wave of SOEs IPOs in 2018.

This value is more modest compared to thetotal 26 trillion VND (1.15 billion USD) IPOs of five large SOEs in January andearly February.

Vietnam Southern Food Corporation (Vinafood2) is the biggest company and will make the first IPO on March 14. The corporationwill auction 114.8 million shares, an equivalent to 23 percent of its chartercapital of 5 trillion VND.

At the minimum bidding price of 10,100 VND pershare, the State is expected to collect at least 1.16 trillion VND from thisshare sale.

The Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment will hold 51 percent of the company’s capital after the IPO andabout 25 percent will be offered to strategic investors in a later move. Only 1percent of the capital will be sold to employees.

Only T&T Group has so far fileddocuments to become Vinafood’s strategic investor, but the company operatesmainly in real estate, finance, industry and import-export trading marketsegments.

Vinafood plays a key role in exportingVietnamese rice. In the first half of 2017, the company earned 4.43 trillion VNDin revenue but reported a loss of 118 billion VND.

The second-biggest company to hold an IPOis Binh Duong Manufacturing & Import Export Corp (Protrade Corp) with 30million shares, or 10 percent of its charter capital of 3 trillion VND, onoffer in its public share sale on March 28.

The starting price for auction will be 12,000VND a share, bringing the State budget at least 360 billion VND if all sharesare sold.

This is the third company from Binh Duong thathas conducted an IPO in recent times. 

Petrol dealer Thanh Le GeneralImport-Export Trading Corporation (Thalexim) and Investment and IndustrialDevelopment Corporation (Becamex IDC) made IPOs in the last quarter of 2017.

Only Thalexim sold all of its shareofferings while Becamex IDC sold only 7.7 percent of its shares in twoauctions.

Hanoi Trade Corporation (Hapro) is the lastcompany to make an IPO on March 30 on the Hanoi Stock Exchange. The companywill float nearly 76 million shares, or 34.51 percent of its charter capital atthe minimum bidding price of 12,800 VND per share.

At this price, the company is valued atalmost 2.82 trillion VND, higher than its charter capital of 2.2 trillion VND.The successful sale will bring the company at least 971 billion VND.

The State will not hold Hapro’s capitalafter the equitisation and about 65 percent of its stakes will be sold tostrategic investors.

Hapro has over 40 member companies withpresence in over 70 countries and territories. The IPO is expected to draw manyinvestors as the company owns many commercial premises in prime locations inmajor cities and provinces.

In 2017, the company’s revenue declined 17 percentyear-on-year to 1.93 trillion VND. Its profit was also modest at just 11billion VND, equivalent to one-sixth of the 2016’s figure.

After three successful IPOs in January - of BinhSon Refining and Petrochemical, PV Power and PV Oil, the two latest IPOs of VietnamRubber Group and EVN Generation Corporation 3 have failed to attract investorattention. Thus, the outlook for the next three IPOs is uncertain in thecontext of the volatile stock market. - VNA