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VietJet stock jumps 20 pct on debut - exchange

By Reuters/My Pham February 28, 2017 | 11:33 am GMT+7

That's the maximum jump allowed for stock price on its debut day by Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange.

Vietnam's biggest private airline, jumped by the maximum 20 percent limit in early trading on debut on Tuesday to hit 108,000 dong ($4.74), data from Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange showed.

The budget airline's stocks rose from a starting price of 90,000 dong per share. A combined 103 shares were traded by 0233GMT, the data showed.

The bourse allows the stock price to move a maximum of 20 percent up or down from the starting price on its debut day.

On February 13, Reuters reported Vietnamese budget airline Vietjet Aviation VJC.HM would list on the domestic Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange on February 28 at a starting price of 90,000 dong ($3.97) per share.

The price announced by Vietjet would put the capitalization of Vietnam's biggest private airline at $1.19 billion.

The airline had intended to list overseas by last year, but the plan was put on ice. Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and a Morgan Stanley investment fund are among 26 foreign investors which recently bought a stake in VietJet.

Company CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, the nation's first female billionaire, is the biggest shareholder.

The CAPA Center for Aviation has said that VietJet, which currently commands 40 percent of Vietnam's domestic market, will likely surpass flag carrier Vietnam Airlines this year as the nation's top domestic carrier.

VietJet currently operates about 60 routes both locally and internationally, and expects to have a fleet of 200 aircraft by 2023. It had ordered billions worth of jets from both Airbus and Boeing in recent years.

Its 2016 net profit jumped 96 percent annually to VND2.29 trillion on rising revenue, the filing showed, while its CEO Thao told Reuters the bottom line is expected to climb 30 percent this year.