Vietnam's Becamex Infrastructure Development JSC (Becamex IJC) will sell 80 million shares in a public offering deal to increase charter capital.

The company expects to raise at least 800 billion dong ($34.5 million) from the share sale, which will take place at the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE). Each share is worth at least 10,000 dong.

The initial price of the auction is the share’s book value recorded in the latest financial report or the average 30-day share price prior to the notice of public offering.

The offering date has not been decided yet.

The income raised from the share sale will be spent increasing capital and investment for the firm’s projects.

The company said in a statement that the capital hike would help cut capital costs, improve the working competency, and increase its earnings to meet the full-year targets.

Becamex IJC’s shares, listed on the HoSE as IJC, fell 50 dong or 0.41 per cent to end Wednesday at 12,250 dong apiece, for a market capitalisation of 1.69 trillion dong, with 223,390 shares traded.

In early 2017, Becamex IJC halved its charter capital, a move that was rarely seen among local companies.

The firm bought back 50 per cent of total outstanding shares from shareholders for 10,000 dong apiece in early 2017. The company’s shares listed on HoSE as IJC were trading close to 8,500 dong apiece.

Funding for the share buyback was the firm’s income from selling assets at affiliates. After the share buyback, Becamex IJC cut its capital by half to 1.37 trillion dong.

Becamex IJC is a member of the Investment and Industrial Development JSC (Becamex, HoSE: BCM). Becamex has a 78.8 per cent stake at its affiliate.

VIET NAM NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK