Notably, 3,958 domestic individuals registered to buy 248 million shares, and 48 foreign organisations and 67 foreign investors registered 65 million and 338.6 million shares, respectively.

According to the plan, on January 17, BSR will conduct its initial public offering (IPO) to sell 242 million shares, equalling 7.79 per cent of its charter capital, at the initial price of VND14,600 ($0.64) apiece.

With this initial price, BSR expects to acquire at least VND3.5 trillion ($154.1 million) in proceeds.

After the IPO, Vietnamese oil and gas group PetroVietnam will retain 43 per cent of BSR’s charter capital, while a maximum of 49 per cent will be sold to strategic investors within three months after the IPO. About 0.21 per cent of the shares will be offered to the company’s employees.

The equitisation of BSR is considered an attractive deal in foreign investors’ eyes because BSR has numerous opportunities to develop sectors that have high potential but have yet to be exploited, including the petrochemical sector.

On the other hand, investors may face numerous issueswhen they invest in BSR.

Notably, there is expected to be large competition between BSR and Nghi Son Refinery, which is expected to meet 40 per cent of the petroleum demand of the Vietnamese market once it comes into operation.

Besides, according to BSR’s previous plans, the company will invest $1.8 billion to upgrade and expand Dung Quat Refinery's capacity from the current 6.5 million tonnes to 8.5 million tonnes per year by 2022, a plan investors need to consider before deciding to buy BSR’s shares.

Another issue is the exchange rate difference. Notably, the buying price of crude oil, which is the input material, and the selling prices of output products are valued based on the USD, while the business results of BSR are calculated based on the Vietnamese dong.

Furthermore, investors need to take into account BSR’s previous ineffective investment projects, one of which is Central Biofuels JSC. BSR poured VND742 billion ($32.6 million) into the company but it is operating in a loss.