HCMC – Vietnam Travel and Marketing Transport JSC (Vietravel), whose VTR shares are traded on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCOM), announced today that VinaCapital Fund Management JSC has become its major shareholder.
Vietravel Holdings, the largest shareholder of Vietravel that is holding 7.04 million VTR shares or a 40.68% stake in VTR, on December 23 transferred 1.78 million VTR shares, or a 10.3% stake to VinaCapital, at VND24,000 per share. This transaction made VinaCapital a new large shareholder of the Vietnamese travel firm.
In related news, Vietravel has announced it had transferred over 39 million shares, or a 30.22% stake in Vietravel Airlines to Vietravel Holdings in a bid to complete the former’s restructuring plan to focus on its core business as a travel operator.
After the deal, Vietravel’s ownership in Vietravel Airlines declined to 17.8 million shares, equivalent to a 13.7% stake in the local carrier. Meanwhile, Vietravel Holdings will acquire a controlling stake in Vietravel Airlines, at 85.8%, becoming the biggest shareholder of the airline.
As part of its restructuring plan, Vietravel this year also transferred its all stake in WorldTrans JSC and CDIMEX to Vietravel Holdings. Both WorldTrans and CDIMEX are subsidiaries of Vietravel Holdings.
Vietravel only retains its ownership in companies whose operations are closely related to travel, such as Beevent, TripU, and some travel firms in the U.S., Australia, France.
On the UPCOM, VTR stock currently transacts on Fridays only as it has been put under trading restriction since September 13 this year by the Hanoi Stock Exchange.
Closing the trading session today, December 28, the benchmark VN-Index of the Hochiminh Stock Exchange added 11.09 points, or 1.1% over the session earlier, at 1,015.66, with 259 advancers and 146 decliners.
Trade on the southern bourse remained unchanged in volume but rose 12% in value against the previous session, at more than 590 million shares and over VND10.6 trillion, including some VND4.2 trillion worth of shares traded in block deals.
Cash flow was strongly channelled into bank stocks, with three out of the five most actively traded stocks on the southern bourse being lenders.
The HNX-Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange also ended in positive territory. With 103 winners and 58 losers, the index gained 2.9 points, or 1.43% compared to yesterday, at 206.04. The Hanoi market saw 61.9 million shares worth VND906.5 billion changing hands, down 13% in volume and 18% in value day-on-day.
