Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved the equitisation plan of the Civil Engineering Construction Corporation No 8 (Cienco 8), according to the Government news portal.

The company is projected to raise 350 billion VND (16.6 million USD) in charter capital, which is equivalent to 35 million shares at a value of 10,000 VND (49 cents) each.

Of the total, 17.15 million shares or 49 percent are the State's share, 10 million or 28.60 percent are for public offerings, 7.35 million shares or 21 percent will go to strategic investors, while the remaining shares will go to Cienco 8 employees at privileged prices.

The Prime Minister has authorised the Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang to determine the starting price of Cienco 8's initial public offering (IPO). This ministry will represent the State's capital at Cienco 8.

No date was given for when the IPO would begin.

Incidentally, there will be four IPOs of Cienco brothers this month, all valued at 10,000 VND per share.

On March 21, Cienco 1 will sell 16 million shares on the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), while Cienco 6 will offer 28.7 million shares, or 47.87 percent of its stake, on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange.

On March 24, Cienco 5 will sell 14.2 million shares, or 32.38 percent of its stake, on the HNX, while on March 25, Cienco 4 will sell 16.1 million shares there.

Besides these companies, the Ministry of Transport is also speeding up the equitisation of units controlled by Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines).

The parent company of Vinalines is expected to offer an IPO by the first quarter of 2015.

The subsidiaries of Vinalines, which will be equitised this year, include Sai Gon port, Cam Ranh Port, Nghe Tinh port, Can Tho port, Nam Can port, Vinalines Hai Phong, Vinalines Shipping Company and Vinalines Container Shipping Company.

Vinalines has successfully equitised two units, Quy Nhon Port and Khuyen Luong Port, while Nha Trang Port has announced it will perform an evaluation for equitisation.

A conference on restructuring State-owned enterprises, which was held by the government here late last month, estimated that 432 SOEs would be equitised in 2014-15, or 216 enterprises per year.-VNA