Viet Nam's second-biggest listed real estate developer, Hoang Anh Gia Lai Joint Stock Company (HOSE: HAG), is planning to sell 19 million shares to New York-based Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas in a private placement.
The developer's Deputy General Director Vo Truong Son said the shares would be sold at VND72,000 each, generating about US$70 million, which would be used to invest in the company's rubber plantations and hydroelectric power on Nov. 23.
The property developer's shares rose 1.3 per cent in value over the previous session to close at VND78,000 ($3.90) on the HCM City Stock Exchange on Nov. 23.
The Financial Times reported earlier that Hoang Anh Gia Lai was seeking a secondary listing in London which would make it the first big Vietnamese company to sell shares overseas.
However, Son said the company would sell shares to Deutsche Bank in the normal way it sold shares to foreign investors and the bank would turn the shares into global depository receipts and list them on the London exchange.
"The company has completed legal procedure in Viet Nam to carry out the deal, while Deutsche Bank and its partner Elara Capital, a small Indian investment bank, are seeking interested investors and finalising necessary formality for the listing in London," Son said.
He refused to disclose the names of investors but said there had been many investors expressing interest in buying the equities.
Foreign listing would help Hoang Anh Gia Lai boost its brand-name in foreign markets, as well as pave the way for another overseas listing.
The company began as a furniture manufacturer in 1990, but has been expanding business to other sectors including real estate, hotels and resorts, hydropower, mining and football, with the aim to become the leading multi-sector group in Viet Nam.
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