The Vietnamese stock market has recently undergone a period of upheavals with the VN-Index falling from over 1,200 points to 1,000 points

Since late last week, Forbes has no longer updated real-time assets of Nguyen Dang Quang, president of Masan Group, as his stock assets have fallen to below $1 billion. The figure was $1.1 billion in late September.

In late 2019, Quang fell out of Forbes’ list of billionaires after being included in the list for the first time in 2018.

Quang’s assets reached a peak of $1.9 billion in April 2022.

His assets have decreased amid MSN share prices falling to a 2-year low, from over VND140,000 per share in late 2021 to VND58,000 now.

Nguyen Dang Quang was born in 1963 in Quang Tri. He has a doctorate in nuclear physics from the Belarus Academy. After finishing his studies, Quang decided to stay in Russia and started a business in 1990s by selling instant noodles to Vietnamese living there, and later selling soybean and chili sauce as well.

Later, Quang returned to Vietnam and developed consumer goods, including chili sauce, fish sauce, instant noodles, sausage and coffee.

Currently, Masan Group is one of the largest manufacturers of consumer goods and retailers after it took over the Vinmart chain from billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong and renamed it Winmart.

A report showed that Quang holds only 15 MSN shares. However, he is indirectly holding MSN shares through Masan and Hoa Huong Duong JSCs, about 45 percent. He is also holding 9.4 million Techcombank shares (TCB).

Meanwhile, Nguyen Hoang Yen, his wife, is holding 42 million MSN shares. Quang is directly holding Masan Consumer (MCH) and Tam Nhin Masan shares.

Vietnamese billionaires’ assets decrease

Many bluechips have also seen prices drop sharply in recent days, including VIC of Vingroup, VHM of Vinhomes, MSN of Masan, TCB of Techcombak, VJC of Vietjet, and HNG of HAGL Agrico.

This has caused the assets of Vietnamese billionaires to drop. Two Vietnamese businessmen, Bui Thanh Nhon and Nguyen Dang Quang, have been excluded from Forbes’ list of the world’s billionaires.

Tran Dinh Long, president of Hoa Phat Group, a large steel manufacturer, once disappeared from the list. Meanwhile, Thao’s assets were not ranked for a short time, which later was attributed to technical error.

The assets of many other billionaires have also plummeted from the peaks in March 2022. Vuong’s assets have dropped from $6.2 billion to $4.4 billion (October 29), AND Thao’s assets from $3.1 billion to $2.1 billion. The decreases from $2.3 billion to $1.2 billion have been reported for Techcombank’s president Ho Hung Anh, and from $3.2 billion to $1.9 billion for Long.

Tran Ba Duong and his family members have seen their assets decrease from $1.6 billion to $1.4 billion. Duong’s assets fluctuate little because Thaco’s shares are not listed. However, Duong is holding HNG, which is a listed share.

2022 was a year of full events as Vuong lost $2.1 billion, while Nhon was excluded from the list of billionaires and other businessmen saw their assets drop sharply.

The VN-Index dropped by 34 percent in 2022, from 1,525.58 points at the first trading session to 1,007.09 points.

Also in 2022, Nhon saw Novaland share prices drop to floor levels for tens of consecutive trading sessions, and his name is no longer found in the list of billionaires since early 2023, though he had had $2.9 billion by March 2022.

The gloomy real estate market and the difficulties of banks explain why realtors and bankers, including Nguyen Van Dat, president of PDR, Do Tuan Anh, president of Sunshine Group, and Ngo Chi Dung, president of VPBank, have seen their assets decrease sharply.

Meanwhile, businesses in technology, chemicals and seafood sectors are experiencing good days. Truong Gia Binh, president of FPT, for example, has been listed among top 10 billionaires in the Vietnamese stock market. FPT share prices have increased by 40 percent this year.

In 2006, Binh was recognized as the richest billionaire in Vietnam with stock assets of VND2.4 trillion.

Manh Ha