VietJetAir to sell all 17.77 million treasury shares

VietJetAir (VJ, Hanoi) has approved a proposal to sell all 17.77 million of its treasury shares, equivalent to 3.28% of its charter capital, to generate funds to support its expansion in 2021 once the pandemic recedes, the airline revealed in a statement on March 8. The expected implementation time for the measure is the first or second quarter of this year, not exceeding 30 days after being approved by the State Securities Commission of Vietnam. With the privately-owned low-cost carrier’s shares closing at VND136,000 dong (USD5.88) on March 8, the company would earn over VND2.4 trillion (USD104 million) from the deal, VietnamFinance reported. VietJetAir acquired the shares in August 2019 for VND132,063 (USD5.72) each, thus transforming them into treasury stock. On August 6, 2020, it announced it was planning to sell the entirety of its treasury stock to a strategic shareholder, which could at the time have been valued at around VND1.79 trillion (then USD77.4 million). However, it said it would negotiate the final price with the buyer. In its March 8 statement, it confirmed that it had cancelled this plan. VietJetAir’s revenue for 2020 plunged by 64% year-on-year to VND18.21 trillion (USD790 million), but it still managed to scrape a profit after tax of VND70 billion (USD3 million). It has claimed not to have laid off employees during the pandemic. As previously reported, in January, it managed to raise VND650 billion (USD28.2 million) in a bond issue.