VietNamNet Bridge – Pham Nhat Vuong (the first Vietnamese dollar billionaire named by Forbes in 2013), Doan Nguyen Duc and Tran Dinh Long all cemented their top positions on the list of 100 Vietnamese richest stock millionaires for 2014.

VnExpress, an online newspaper, and its partner VnDirect Securities Company, for the ninth consecutive year, released the list of the top 100 soon after the last trading session of the year closed on December 31.

The total stock assets of the 100 richest millionaires in 2014 reportedly are worth VND81.5 trillion, or $3.8 billion, an increase of 25 percent over the last year.

With stock assets worth VND20.188 trillion, Vingroup’s chair Pham Nhat Vuong stands in the first position for the fifth consecutive year. Though Vingroup share prices dropped by 40 percent in 2014, Vuong is still rich thanks to the shares he received in the year as dividends.

Vuong’s wife, Pham Thu Huong, and sister Pham Thuy Hang rank fourth and fifth in the top 10 with assets of VND5.8 trillion.

Vingroup focuses its investments on real estate and hospitality (5-star and above hotels, resorts, beach villas, amusement parks and golf courses) through two key brands, Vincom and Vinpearl.

Hoang Anh Gia Lai’s chair Doan Nguyen Duc remains in the second position with the impressive business performance of the group in 2014. The group’s restructuring brought a post-tax profit of VND1.6 trillion after the first nine months of the year, double that of the same period the previous year.

The high profit of VND2.6 trillion made by Hoa Phat Group in 2014 also helped make Hoa Phat’s shares more valuable and helped its owner, Tran Dinh Long, stay firmly in the third position.

The 30 percent share price increase of the steel group helped Long’s wife, Vu Thi Hien, have VND600 billion in assets, thus jumping from the 11th position last year to the seventh this year.

However, the millionaire who made the biggest jump was Chu Thi Binh, the wife of Chu Van Quang, chair of Minh Phu Seafood Company, from 29th last year to eighth in 2014.

The businessmen in the top 3 were all familiar names, while there were big changes in the top 10.

Chair of the Saigon Securities Incorporated (SSI) Nguyen Duy Hung unexpectedly made a big leap thanks to the 3-6 percent price increases of SSI, PAN, FMC and DAC shares at the last trading session of the year.

The share price increases were sharp enough to help Hung jump from the 10th position by December 30 to ninth after the December 31, 2014 session closed. His stock assets  reached VND1.799 trillion by the end of 2014.

With stock assets VND800 million lower than Hung’s, the steel manufacturer Le Phuoc Vu fell from the ninth to the 10th position.

US$1 = VND21,100

Mai Thanh