Vietnam tanker firm sets Oct. 9 share debut

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HANOI, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Vietnam Tanker Company (Vitaco), the transport arm of key oil product importer Petrolimex, said on Tuesday its shares would make their debut on the main stock market .VNI next week.

Ho Chi Minh City-based Vitaco would list all its 40 million shares on Oct. 9, it said in a statement issued through the exchange.

It will join 115 companies now listed on the exchange, where the VN Index ended up 1.39 percent at 1,099.48 points on Tuesday, taking its rise so far this year to 46 percent. The market's capitalisation is now around $18 billion.

Vitaco, partially privatised in February 2006, would now be valued at $158 million based on its share price on the unregulated markets last week of 64,000 dong ($3.96).

Petrolimex holds a 51 percent stake in Vitaco, which has mainly served its parent firm so far as Petrolimex imports up to 60 percent of Vietnam's oil products a year.

Outsiders hold 37.42 percent in Vitaco, employees have 3.03 percent and 8.55 percent belongs to special shareholders, Vitaco said without giving details of the lastest investors.

Oil product transport has been expanding to meet annual consumption growth of 6 percent in Vietnam, Southeast Asia's third-largest crude oil producer but heavily reliant on imported refined products as it lacks refineries.

The consumption growth has given Vitaco a stable business. Last year, it handled 25 percent of Vietnam's oil product imports.