Vietnam’s state-controlled Gia Dinh Textile and Garment Company has sold more than 15 million shares, equivalent to a 24.28 per cent stake, for over VND155.8 billion ($6.89 million) in an initial public offering. No foreign investors bid in the IPO that was oversubscribed nearly three times at Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange on Friday, Vietnamese newspapers have reported. The Ho Chi Minh City-based company, also known as GIDITEXCO, is slated to sell another stake of 25 per cent to strategic partners and 1.72 per cent to its staff, so the state ownership will be reduced to 49 per cent, according to the plans. With 14 subsidiaries and ventures, all operating in the textile and garment sector, the company accounts for more than half of Vietnam’s garment exports to Japan, and nearly 45 per cent to the US. It posted a post-tax profit of over VND2.6 billion ($115,000) at the end of the third quarter last year, down nearly 42 per cent year on year, according to the company’s latest financial statement.
