VietJet Aviation Joint Stock Co., the Vietnam carrier known for its bikini-clad flight attendants, expects profit to surge 30 percent this year on rising passengers as it prepares for its Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange listing debut in February.
A total of 23 overseas investors bought 66.5 million shares — equivalent to about 14 percent of VietJet — during a pre-listing stake sale last month, billionaire founder Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao said. The budget carrier is valued at USD 1.2 billion by its advisers, and it’s also considering a foreign listing and overseas bonds issuance, she said.
“The market is growing fast with rising traveling demand from a large population of young people and an expansion of the economy,” Thao said in an interview in Ho Chi Minh City. “We gave investors a pretty good price — we prioritized quality investors over price,” she added, declining to give specific details on the stake sale.
The carrier is tapping into an aviation market that has risen 20 percent in the last three years in one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, according to the airline. Vietnam’s economy grew 6.21 percent in 2016, the second consecutive year of more than 6 percent expansion.
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