Vice president of Thaco Group Nguyen Hung Minh on June 28 told VietNamNet that Thaco and HCMC Securities (HSC), a consultancy firm, are working on a plan to sell 10 percent of Thaco Auto’s shares.

Prior to that, Reuters reported that Thaco Group might sell 20 percent of Thaco Auto shares, and the automobile manufacturer was worth $5 billion. The newswire said the money to be collected from the deal would be used to invest in real estate projects.

However, Minh told VietNamNet that Thaco is working with investors on the plan to issue new shares to strategic investors with the value of up to 10 percent of Thaco Auto’s shares.

Also according to Minh, the number of ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) shareholders in 2018 will be converted to turn Thaco Auto into a public joint stock company which has a plan to list shares on the bourse in the next three years.

He said the capital to be mobilized from the new stock issuance campaign will be used for Thaco Auto’s production and investment activities, the plan to expand the retail network and to develop new products.

Responding to information reported by foreign media that Thaco has a factory in Hung Yen, Minh affirmed the information is not true. All the production activities of the company are implemented in Chu Lai IZ in Quang Nam. 

Investors, foreign and domestic, are working with Thaco for negotiations. The new bond issuance campaign is expected to be completed this year.

Thaco Group is known as an interdisciplinary group which operates in the fields of automobile manufacture, agriculture, mechanical engineering and support industries, investment and construction, logistics, and trade services.

Thaco Auto, the key unit of Thaco Group, specializes in manufacturing, assembling, distributing and retailing car brands KIA, Mazda, Peugeot and BMW, with 400 showrooms in the country.

Thaco Auto plans to sell 120,000 cars and earn VND90 trillion revenues in 2023, including VND5.2 trillion from services.

Thaco is no longer a public company and therefore, it doesn’t have to publicize information. Thaco Group has set up an ambitious business plan for this year. In the real estate sector, Thadico-Dai Quang Minh plans to start tens of commercial projects capitalized at trillions of dong this year. 

Vietnam had six billionaires, according to Forbes list released in April 2023. Vietnamese billionaires lost $8.6 billion, but Duong’s assets remained unchanged at $1.5 billion.

Manh Ha