VietNamNet Bridge – Thirty years after the doi moi (renovation) was kicked off and 10 years after the stock market made its debut, Vietnam has had a billionaire recognized in the world. Who would be the second billionaire?

Mr Dao Hong Tuyen

Pham Nhat Vuong has become the first Vietnamese billionaire to enter Forbes’ list of world’s richest individuals, with total assets of US$1.5 billion as estimated by March 2013.

Doan Nguyen Duc, the brilliant candidate

The most likely candidate among the Vietnamese businessmen for the title of the second billionaire in Vietnam is Doan Nguyen Duc, Chair of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group.

Duc, the businessman who has poured his money into many business fields, from rubber plantation to hydropower, real estate to football club, was twice named in the list of the Vietnamese richest stock millionaires in 2008 and 2009.

In those two years, Duc was believed to be richer than Pham Nhat Vuong. However, since the Hoang Anh Gia Lai’s stakes saw the prices drop sharply in 2010, 2011 and 2012, Duc felt into the second position in the list of stock millionaires.

Therefore, though being the only person who expresses his aspiration for becoming a billionaire in the world, Duc has yet reached his goal.

Duc was still firm on the second position of the 2012 list of stock millionaires, but he was left far behind by Pham Nhat Vuong. By the end of 2012, Vuong held VND17 trillion worth of shares, while Duc, though seeing the asset value increasing considerably by 30 percent in 2012, had had VND5,600 billion worth of shares.

However, though the stock prices have fallen down sharply, Duc still has been highly appreciated in the business circle. Hoang Anh Gia Lai, which took loss with domestic real estate projects, has been earning money from other sources of income. The conglomerate has shifted its focus on rubber plantation, with the projects on growing 51,000 hectares of rubber in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.

It is estimated that when the 51,000 hectares of rubber is put into exploitation, rubber plants alone would bring $300 million a year to Hoang Anh Gia Lai/

Meanwhile, the $300 million real estate project developed by Hoang Anh Gia Lai in Yangon, Myanmar would bring multi-billion dollars to the conglomerate, if the Myanmar market heats up in the next five years.

The rubber, sugar cane projects in Laos could also be the big assets of the businessman. Once all the projects make profit, the prices of Hoang Anh Gia Lai stakes would increase rapidly, which also means that Duc’s asses would also increase accordingly.

The hidden billionaires

They are called “hidden candidates” because there has been no exact information about the actual assets of the billionaires. In Vietnam, people believe that the richest people in the stock market might not be the richest people in Vietnam.

There are many billionaires whose assets have not been known to people simply because their businesses have not yet listed shares on the bourse, or the information about their assets has not been exposed to the public.

The Vietnamese billionaires would enter the Forbes’ list of the billionaires of the word any time once their businesses list shares.

Dao Hong Tuyen, who is called “the island’s kind” in Vietnam, is believed to be the owner of a lot of companies throughout the country and the owner of a series of real estate projects.

There has been no exact information about the value of the assets Tuyen possesses, but Tuyen said his assets are worth two billion dollars.

The owner of Geneximco Vu Van Tien has also been well known in the business circle with the real estate projects in many localities from the north to the south.

Huan Tu