VietJet IPO set to raise US$170m, value airline at $1.2b

Budget airline VietJet is set to raise about $170m in an IPO that will value Vietnam's only private airline at $1.2b, people close to the deal said Wednesday, in the latest in a string of Vietnamese share sales. VietJet Aviation JSC, founded in 2007 by Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao - now Vietnam's first female billionaire - will add its name to a list of coming and completed sales that includes Vietnam Airlines, brewer Sabeco and dairy Vinamilk. VietJet will sell 44.7m shares priced just below the middle of their 75,900 to 98,400 dong ($3.34 to $4.33) marketed range, four people said. The price for institutional buyers will be 84,400 dong each, the people said. One of them told Reuters that the price for retail investors would be 86,500 dong. An overallotment option would not be exercised, the people told IFR. One of the people told Reuters that the offer was oversubscribed.<br/>