A financial report released by VietinBank Securities (CTS) showed that the fair value through profit or loss (FVTPL) in the second quarter 2023 soared from VND15.8 billion the same period last year to VND152 billion thanks to the sale of unlisted shares.

CTS has sold over 4.7 million unlisted shares worth VND141 billion in total, or VND30,000 per share. The original price was over VND24 billion, or VND5,100 per share. CTS made a profit of VND117 billion.

The report also pointed out that the sharp fall in the investment value of unlisted shares of CTS came from Thaco shares. This means that CTS sold a part of Thaco shares.

With the current price of VND30,000 per share and the current amount of Thaco’s shares in circulation of 3.05 billion, Thaco is valued at VND91.5 trillion, or $3.8 billion.

As such, if compared with the price at which Thaco issued shares privately to the strategic shareholder Jardine Cycle & Carriage Limited (JC&C) in 2019, the figure is much lower.

Under the plan to sell shares to JC&C, Thaco issued 30.3 million shares, or 1.82 percent of circulating shares at VND128,500 per share. At that time, Thaco was valued at $9.24 billion.

As such, after nearly four years, Thaco’s valuation has dropped dramatically.

Established in April 1997, Thaco is now a multi-field group, which manufactures automobiles (Thaco Auto), and invests in agriculture (Thaco Agri), industry (Thaco Industries), construction (Thadico), logistics (Thilogy) and trade and services (Thiso).

The vice president of Thaco group said Thaco is working with the consultant – HCMC Securities – on the sale of 10 percent of Thaco Auto shares, expected to be completed this year. The company plans to list on the bourse in the next three years.

Minh said the capital to be mobilized from the share issuance will be used for Thaco Auto’s production and business activities and expansion of the retail network, as well as new product development.

Thaco Auto is a subsidiary of Thaco Group that manufactures, assembles, distributes and retails cars of different brands (KIA, Mazda, Peugeot and BMW) through a network of 400 showrooms nationwide and a production complex of seven factories in Chu Lai IZ.

Thaco, a private family run enterprise by Tran Ba Duong and Vien Dieu Hoa, sets an ambitious business plan in 2023. In the real estate sector, Thadico plans to kick off tens of commercial projects capitalized at trillions of VND. 

In the 2023 list of dollar billionaires released by Forbes, there are six Vietnamese. Duong and family members have $1.5 billion.

Manh Ha