PetroVietnam Insurance Company, a listed company on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, has announced that it will offer 20 million shares to foreign strategic partners.
The shares would be offered at a price no less than 80 percent of the average price over the seven trading sessions prior to the deal being finalised, PetroVietnam Insurance told Kinh te Viet Nam (Viet Nam Economic Times) newspaper.
The insurer, an affiliate of the national oil and gas group PetroVietnam, has not yet disclosed the identity of the foreign partners, although it was reported last June that PetroVietnam Insurance had held meetings with such overseas insurers as AON Benfield, Liberty Singapore, AIG and Lloyd’s.
PetroVietnam Insurance was also selected to be major partner of Lloyd’s for its investments in Viet Nam during the meeting.
Rosthchild & Sons, Horizon Capital Advisers and PetroVietnam Securities Co have all been named as consultants to the upcoming share sale.
The proposed sale of shares is part of PetroVietnam Insurance’s overall plan to increase its charter capital from VND1.03 trillion (US$56 million) to VND1.6 trillion ($86.5 million), slated to take place in the first quarter of 2010.
The plan would also call for 36.2 million shares to be sold to existing shareholders at a price of VND10,000 a piece. Shareholders would be eligible to buy the additional shares at a ratio of 20:7.
By mid-November, PetroVietnam Insurance had reported premiums for the year of VND3 trillion ($162.2 million), exceeding the corresponding period of the previous year by 11.3 per cent and representing 99.8 percent of target for all of this year.