Vietnam tech unicorn VNG to trade 35.8 mln shares on UPCoM

Vietnamese tech giant VNG Corp. has registered to trade 35.8 million VNZ shares on the unlisted public company market UPCoM from January 5, 2023.

Of this, 28.7 million shares are outstanding and 7.1 million treasury shares. The reference price on the first trading day of VNZ shares is VND240,000 ($10) per unit, the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) said. At this price, VNG has a market capitalization of VND8,592 billion ($364.8 million).

VNG was established on September 9, 2004 with the original name VinaGame. In 2012, the company launched Zalo, a free mobile messaging and calling application.

VNG was valued at $1 billion in 2014, becoming the first unicorn in Vietnam, according to World Startup Report. In 2016, it launched the electronic payment application Zalopay with an initial charter capital of VND15 billion ($636,000).

According to its information disclosure, as of November 28, 2022, VNG has three major shareholders: VNG Limited, headquartered in Cayman Islands, holding 49% of charter capital or 61.1% of outstanding shares; BigV Technology Corporation with a 4.6% stake and accounting for 5.7% of outstanding shares; and Le Hong Minh, chairman and general director of VNG owning a 9.8% stake and 12.3% of outstanding shares.

Early this month, VNG said it would offer over 7.1 million treasury shares to BigV Technology Corporation at the price of VND177,881 ($7.5) per share in 2023. This price is much lower than the VND1.7 million ($71.7) per share that Mirae Asset Finance Company Limited spent in 2021.

Previously, VNG shareholders had approved the public tender waiver for investors buying treasury shares on December 9. Accordingly, BigV would be privately offered by VNG all its more than 7.1 million treasury shares, accounting for 24.7% of VNG's shares in circulation.

The offering price is $7.5 per share, which means proceeds of a maximum VND1,264 billion ($53.37 million). This lot of shares will be restricted from being transferred for one year.

In the first nine months of 2022, VNG's revenue reached more than VND5,760 billion ($243.1 million), flat compared to the same period last year. It reported losses of VND419 billion, compared to the profit of VND529 billion ($22.33 million) in the same period last year.

By September 30, 2022, VNG's total assets reached VND9,189 billion ($387.64 million), a slight decrease compared to the beginning of the year, with liabilities hitting VND3,610 billion ($152.29 million), up nearly 24%.