VietNamNet Bridge - Many new upstarts have emerged, causing big changes in the ranking of rich Vietnamese.


The new faces

The state-owned enterprise equitization process, which is now in the sprinting period, plus a series of new policies on share listing and information exposure, have helped reveal the assets of many tycoons.

Thaigroup (Xuan Thanh Group in the past) owned by Nguyen Duc Thuy, has acquired Kim Lien Hotel after spending more than VND1 trillion to buy 52 percent of the hotel’s shares. 

As such, after selling 74 percent of shares of VIX Securities in a deal worth VND240 billion and leaving the stock market, Thuy has come back and restructured the list of the richest Vietnamese.

Thuy does not hold listed companies’ shares, but his latest business affair can show his powerful financial capability. He remains one of the most influential businessmen in Vietnam with conglomerates which comprise tens of subsidiaries and chartered capital of VND2.5 trillion.

The Hanoi Stock Exchange has reported two individual investors – Ly Thanh Hung and Pham Ai Quoc in mid-December bought a 36.2 percent stake in Sai Gon Hotel in total, worth VND65 billion.

Recent share transfer deals worth trillions of dong show the financial capability of private Vietnamese investors.

The year 2015 also witnessed a series of other big share auctions. 

Doan Hong Viet, chair of Digiworld (DGW), is a new face among the rich. Viet now holds 1.4 million DGW shares and indirectly holds 11 million shares of the mobile device distribution chain through Created Future. His stock assets are estimated at VND410 billion.

Ho Duc Lam is one of the most outstanding faces on the list of the richest stock millionaires. Lam is among top 100 stock millionaires with over 10 million shares of Rang Dong Plastics JSC, worth VND300 billion.

In fact, Lam is considered a ‘tiger’ in the plastics industry as he once was the manager of some plastics companies. In mid-2015, Lam became the owner after he bought 65 percent of Rang Dong’s stakes from the state.

Big resources from private sector

Recent share transfer deals worth trillions of dong show the financial capability of private Vietnamese investors. 

In early October, five individual investors spent VND400 billion to buy 40 million of An Binh’s shares in an auction organized by the Electricity of Vietnam.

Also in 2015, Dinh Thi Thanh Ky became the new shareholder of VIB Bank after she acquired 11.4 million shares to hold 2.67 percent of the bank’s stakes.

In late June, an individual spent VND255 billion to acquire a series of land plots on advantageous positions in Hanoi, including the land plot near the Hoan Kiem Lake. A hidden investor registered to buy all the 3.1 million shares offered by Trang Thi Service Company.

M.Ha