Saigon Port Company Limited will sell 35.7 million shares, or 16.5 percent of its equity, to strategic investors.

According to HCM City Stock Exchange (HOSE), these shares will be sold after the company completes its initial public offering (IPO) at rates not lower than the IPO's average price.

Vingroup, VPBank and Vietinbank have already signed up to acquire stakes in Saigon Port.

Vingroup has announced plans to acquire 80 percent of Saigon Port's chartered capital, while VPBank and Vietinbank plan to buy 11 percent each.

As reported on June 1, Saigon Port will hold its IPO on June 30, in which a similar number of shares will be auctioned at a base price of 11,500 VND per share.

Three percent of the chartered capital will be sold to the company's employees and its labour union at preferential prices.

After the IPO, the State will hold 64 percent of the port's chartered capital.

Saigon Port expects the IPO to raise its charted capital to 2.16 trillion VND (98.9 million USD) with a total asset value of 3.95 trillion VND (181 million USD).

It is now investing 2.8 trillion VND (129.6 million USD) in building the Saigon-Hiep Phuoc Port. Last year, the company recorded 1.07 trillion VND (78.8 million USD) in combined revenues for pre-tax profits of 79 billion VND (3.65 million USD).

Saigon Port Company Limited, a subsidiary of the Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines), transports 10 million tonnes of goods each year.

The company manages four ports in HCM City's District 4 and District 7. The ports have 20 docks and 463,448 square metres of warehouses and shipyards.-VNA