|
PetroVietnam PVFC postpones Singapore listing
State oil monopoly PetroVietnam’s financial arm PVFC, 10 percent owned by Morgan Stanley, plans to defer its share listing in Singapore until early next year, a company official said.
The partly private company also plans to list shares on the main Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange but only after floating on the Singapore Stock Exchange, said the official, who declined to be identified.
“The successful listing in Singapore would help boost prices when we list in Vietnam later,” he said, without giving a reason for the delay. PVFC had previously planned the Singapore listing this year.
PVFC said in a statement Thursday it had won approval from the central bank to list on the Ho Chi Minh City exchange, which currently trades shares in only one bank, Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank, known as Sacombank.
The company also said this week it clinched a deal with PV Oil, the crude oil trading arm of PetroVietnam, to manage PV Oil’s cash flow until the end of 2009.
The Hanoi-based company, 49 percent owned by PetroVietnam and which acts as the de facto bank for the state oil group, has said revenues in the first half of 2008 jumped nearly 38 percent from a year ago to VND1.77 trillion (US$107 million).
Its gross profit reached VND198 billion ($12 million) in the period.
Last year Morgan Stanley paid nearly VND70,000 per share, or about $215 million in total, to buy the PVFC stake.
PVFC shares have more than halved to around VND28,000 now, a fate suffered by shares of most banks in Vietnam which have been tightening credit to ease pressure from 10 consecutive months of double-digit inflation and a soaring trade deficit.
Thanhnien
|
