The Vietnam National Petroleum Corporation (Petrolimex), the country’s second largest State-owned firm in terms of turnover, is scheduled to launch its initial public offering (IPO) on July 28 at the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX).

The move will be the first step of the equitisation scheme and restructure process approved by the Prime Minister in order to transform the corp. into a group.

The corporation’s issuance of shares is aimed at increasing its charter capital, of which the State holds at least 75 percent.

Petrolimex plans to auction more than 27.4 million shares to the public with an initial price of 15,000 VND per share.

At a road show on equitisation of Petrolimex at the HNX on July 12, HNX Deputy Director General Nguyen Thi Hoang Lan said that as the largest business involved in petroleum, Petrolimex’s shares would be attractive to investors.

According to Petrolimex CEO Bui Ngoc Bao, the firm has a large petroleum trading system in Vietnam , from import, storage and distribution with 42 affiliates, warehouses and over 2,100 retail fuel outlets and over 4,000 agents across the country.

Petrolimex accounts for about 55 percent of market share among 13 petroleum trading units in the country./.