Bamboo Airways expects $1b market cap at listing

Bloomberg

Vietnam’s Bamboo Airways expects a market capitalisation of as much as $1 billion at its planned listing in the first quarter next year.
The startup carrier plans to list about 400 million shares on either the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange or Hanoi Stock Exchange as early as January, Deputy Chief Executive Officer Nguyen Khac Hai said in a phone interview in Hanoi. Bamboo Airways expects to set the initial price for its trading debut in the range of 50,000 dong to 60,000 dong ($2.59) per share, he added.
“We expect the stock market to do well from now until next year as the macro-economic conditions are very positive,” Hai said.
In Vietnam, companies often sell shares months before a listing in an exchange. Bamboo, however, plans to list shortly after the share sale.
The benchmark VN Index of Vietnamese stocks rose 4.9% in the third quarter, making it Southeast Asia’s top performer as the country continues to be a beneficiary of supply chains shifting away from China amid its trade war with the US.
The gauge is up about 11% this year. Shares of FLC Group JSC, which owes Bamboo Airways, jumped 6.9% most since July 25, 2018 while the VN Index was up 0.2%.
Bamboo Airways Chairman Trinh Van Quyet said that the company expects to raise about $100 million from the IPO. The carrier’s registered capital will increase to about 4 trillion dong from 2.2 trillion dong after the share sale, according to Hai.
The airline, which joined Vietnam’s crowded skies last January, seeks to tap into the nation’s growing middle class.