PV Power to sell shares in IPO

HÀ NỘI — The PetroVietnam Power Corporation (PV Power) will offer 20 per cent of its shares in an initial public offering (IPO) on January 31. PV Power is a subsidiary of the Việt Nam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam). At a roadshow, held in Hà Nội on Tuesday, to introduce the investment opportunity in the company, PV Power Chairman Hồ Công Kỳ said the sale was part of the PV Power equitisation plan approved by the Prime Minister on December 8, 2017, under which the State would reduce its stake in PV Power to 51 per cent after PV Power became a joint-stock company. More than 676 million shares, equivalent to 28.88 per cent of PV Power’s chartered capital, would be sold to strategic investors, while the remaining shares, equivalent to 0.11 per cent of its chartered capital, would be sold to PV Power’s staff, he said. PV Power prioritised strategic investors who owned oil and gas fields and coal mines as they could provide fuel for the corporation’s electricity plants for a long term, Kỳ said. PV Power General Director Nguyễn Xuân Hoà said the priority enabled strategic investors to gain over 36 per cent of PV Power’s chartered capital and have veto power in the council of shareholders. The State’s capital in PV Power might decrease to below 51 per cent after 2019 once the corporation has successfully concluded its negotiations with international investors over the restructuring of loans for the Vũng Áng 1 thermal power plant, Hoà said. He also said the equitisation of PV Power had attracted attention from hundreds of investors, including electricity development investors that were more powerful than PV Power in terms of finance, human resources and capacity. Owners of oil and gas fields and coal mines from Indonesia, Australia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have also been interested in the corporation’s shares. Hoà said at the workshop that PV Power had selected 30 qualified domestic and foreign investors for cooperation over the next 5-10 years. According to Decree No 126/2017/NĐ-CP, strategic investors are required to make profits in the last two years and hold on to PV Power shares for at least five years. PV Power has given priority to strategic investors who can allocate capital for the corporation to implement an array of thermal power projects in future, as well as those who can improve its financial, personnel and technological management capacity, and operate in electricity generation. This is aimed at ensuring the supply of gas and coal for PV Power’s projects, once domestic natural resources decrease. In this regard, Kỳ said PV Power prioritised those investors who promised to operate and maintain a number of coal-fuelled power projects invested by PetroVietnam. PV Power was established in 2007. The company operates one coal-based thermal power plant, three gas-based thermal power plants and three hydropower plants. Its annual production is more than 4,208MW, equivalent to 10 per cent of the country’s total power output. — VNS