At the ceremony honoring employees with outstanding contributions held on January 18, Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) Chair Doan Nguyen Duc, widely known as Boss Duc, recalled memories of the most difficult times for the business.

In 2006 HAGL was among the largest private enterprises in Vietnam. At that time, the group poured resources into rubber cultivation.

In 2007, a Singapore-based company invested $120 million in HAGL, placing its trust in the expectation that rubber would generate profits of about $500 million from 2016.

However, due to multiple market factors, rubber prices plunged from $5,200 per ton at the time of investment to just $1,100 per ton at harvest, pushing HAGL into an extremely difficult situation.

“In 2007-2008, I was still the richest person in Vietnam, but shortly afterward I also became the poorest,” Duc recalled.

On December 31, 2016, after waiting for banks to close their financial year books, the chairman, born in 1962, had to announce that HAGL had lost liquidity. “We said it was a liquidity crisis, but in reality it was bankruptcy,” he revealed.

In 2016, HAGL’s total debt reached VND36,000 billion, while accumulated losses VND7,000 billion. The group had no money to pay salaries, leaving employees anxious. Banks stopped lending, and outsiders judged that poor governance had led to failure. “These are things I will never forget for the rest of my life,” Duc said.

Facing major upheaval, HAGL chose restructuring, accepting to sell everything that could be sold and abandoning core projects in real estate, hydropower, hospitals and hotels. The group chose a single path forward: developing agriculture, in order to repay debt.

In 2018, Duc sent a letter to Tran Ba Duong, Chair of Thaco Group, an automobile manufacturer. After reading the letter, Duong met Duc one afternoon and handed him VND2,000 billion, without even requiring a written receipt.

“That VND2,000 billion helped HAGL rebuild. This is a debt of gratitude we must always remember,” Duc told employees.

Afterward, HAGL shifted from growing passion fruit to bananas. Over time, this crop has effectively “rescued” HAGL.

Currently, Doan Nguyen Duc said HAGL’s debt has been reduced from VND36,000 billion to VND5,500 billion. In addition, the accumulated loss of VND7,000 billion has been fully eliminated.

Its total assets stand at VND27,000 billion, with stockholder equity of VND13,000 billion, equivalent to a debt-to-equity ratio of about 0.4-0.5. HAGL recorded profits of VND2,500-2,800 billion in the 2025 financial year and it strives for VND4,000 billion in profit in 2026.

Duy Anh