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Petrolimex insurance arm sets July 29 share debut
Petrolimex Joint Stock Insurance Company, the insurance arm of Vietnam's top oil products importer Petrolimex, will make a domestic share debut late this month, the company said on Thursday.
The Hanoi-based firm, also known as Pjico, is the fourth largest non-life insurer by revenue in Vietnam, where insurance penetration rates are low and premiums are rising.
Pjico will list all of its 70.97 million shares representing its registered capital of VND709.74 billion (US$34.5 million) on the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange on July 29, it said in a statement.
It has set a starting price at VND12,800 ($0.62) each, which valued the firm at around $44 million.
Pjico's share debut will follow Petrolimex's initial public offering set for July 28, at which Pjico's parent firm aims to raise at least $20 million from selling nearly 27.43 million shares, or 2.56 percent of the firm's registered capital.
Share listings in Vietnam often follow initial public offerings of stock by months or even years.
Pjico, owned by eight investors including Petrolimex, Vietcombank, Vietnam Steel Corp and Vietnam National Reinsurance Corp, had an 8-percent share of Vietnam's insurance premiums in 2010.
Vietnam's top non-life insurers by market share are Bao Viet Holdings, Petrovietnam Insurance and Bao Minh, which together account for 65 percent of the country's insurance premiums, Pjico said in its prospectus.
Pjico's net profit jumped 40 percent in 2010 to VND63.18 billion as revenues rose 20.5 percent.
Pjico said its 2010 revenues rank the fourth on Vietnam's non-life insurance market comprising 29 companies, with domestic firms accounting for 95 percent of the market share and foreign insurers the remaining 5 percent.
Vietnam's insurance premiums in 2010 rose 48.5 percent from the previous year to VND31.5 trillion, making up only a tiny 1.7 percent penetration rate in the nation's gross domestic product.
It showed Vietnam's insurance market remains "an attractive market segment, promising a high growth," Pjico said.
Pjico has projected 63 percent jump in net profit this year to VND103 billion, but sees annual profit growth slowing to 7 percent in 2012. "Due to the economic crisis in 2008, in the 2009-2012 Vietnam's insurance market is expected to get a significant hit," Pjico said. The market is expected to see revenue growth of 16.2 percent, with a penetration rate of 2.51 percent by 2012, it said. (US$1 = VND20,550)
tuoitrenews, reuters
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