At the close of trading on August 28, Vingroup (VIC) shares stood at a record VND236,000 ($9.05) each, after six strong sessions from VND200,000 ($7.67) on August 19. Compared with just over VND20,000 ($0.77) at the beginning of 2025, VIC has risen more than elevenfold.

Vingroup’s market capitalization consequently climbed to a record of more than $70.2 billion, lifting Pham Nhat Vuong’s fortune to around $36.5 billion and placing him 60th among the world’s richest people.

Notably, VIC’s rally also made Pham Thu Huong the richest woman in Vietnam. According to Forbes, as of August 29, Huong had an estimated fortune of around $4.1 billion, ranking 1,045th globally and second among women in Southeast Asia, behind only Indonesian billionaire Marina Budiman, whose wealth stood at around $6 billion.

Born in 1969, Huong is one of Vingroup’s founders and currently serves as the group’s vice chairwoman. She directly owns around 341 million VIC shares and 148.3 million LPB shares. Huong and Vuong’s family continues to hold a controlling stake in Vingroup.

The rise in wealth has not been limited to Pham Thu Huong. Several Vietnamese billionaires have seen their fortunes climb sharply alongside the stock market. As of August 29, Pham Thuy Hang, Huong’s younger sister and a Vingroup vice chairwoman, was worth around $2.9 billion; Tran Dinh Long $2.5 billion; Ho Hung Anh $2.3 billion; Ngo Chi Dung $1.2 billion; and Nguyen Dang Quang around $1 billion.

It is worth noting that Forbes’ billionaire wealth estimates largely reflect the estimated value of shareholdings and other assets at a given point in time. When stock prices rise sharply, fortunes on billionaire rankings can therefore increase by billions of dollars without a corresponding amount of cash actually being generated.

Three major trends behind the rapid rise in billionaire wealth

Behind the surge in VIC shares and the fortunes of Vietnamese billionaires lies the convergence of three major trends: the rise of large private-sector conglomerates, a massive infrastructure investment cycle tied to a new phase of economic growth, and the upgrading of Vietnam’s capital market to attract international investment.

For VIC, 2025 marked a turning point. The stock rose around 8.4-fold, while Vinhomes (VHM) gained roughly 3.1-fold. The market increasingly viewed Vingroup not simply as a real estate conglomerate, but as an ecosystem spanning property, electric vehicles, industry, technology, energy and infrastructure.

This shift has come alongside VinFast’s expansion and a series of major projects that Vingroup, VinSpeed and companies within its wider ecosystem have proposed or explored. In particular, Resolution 68-NQ/TW on private-sector economic development has sent a new policy signal about the role of private businesses in Vietnam’s economy.

As the state accelerates infrastructure investment, pursues stronger economic growth and mobilizes more resources from society, private conglomerates with substantial capital, technology and execution capabilities are expected to play an increasingly important role.

This may explain why the market has begun assigning additional “option value” to VIC - reflecting not only projects already generating revenue, but also the possibility that Vingroup could participate in major infrastructure, transport, urban development and energy projects in the future. However, proposing or participating in a project does not guarantee revenue or profit, making this part of the valuation one that requires caution.

The rally from April to mid-May 2026 added another dimension to the story. VinFast’s plan to restructure toward an asset-light model, together with Vingroup’s 2026 target of around $18.6 billion in revenue and approximately $1.34 billion in after-tax profit, gave the market more grounds to assess the group’s ability to turn its investment scale into earnings.

If its subsidiaries can gradually raise capital, attract partners or pursue initial public offerings, Vingroup could increasingly resemble a holding company with stakes in multiple assets and growth businesses rather than a single-sector company. That could support a higher valuation, although much still depends on execution.

The sharp rally during the final two weeks of August 2026 also came against the backdrop of another major development: the upgrade of Vietnam’s stock market.

FTSE Russell is expected to move Vietnam from frontier-market to secondary emerging-market status from September 21, 2026. In its August 21 review, 27 Vietnamese stocks were also added to the FTSE All-Cap index.

Estimates suggest passive capital inflows could reach billions of dollars during the transition. SSI Research estimates that VIC could attract a total of around $689.7 million across four rounds of disbursement, compared with approximately $246.8 million for VHM and $142 million for HPG.

VIC is particularly significant because of its enormous market capitalization. As the stock’s weighting in indices rises, index-tracking funds may generate additional demand. A higher share price, in turn, increases its market capitalization and index weighting, potentially drawing further attention from funds and investors. This mechanism can create an amplifying effect.

Seen more broadly, Pham Thu Huong’s story is therefore about more than the rise of a single stock. It reflects a shift in how the market values major private companies - moving beyond current profits to consider asset scale, business ecosystems, project execution capabilities and the ability to raise capital.

If the three trends - a greater private-sector role in driving growth, a major infrastructure cycle and the upgrading of Vietnam’s capital markets - continue, large conglomerates could emerge as new engines of the Vietnamese stock market. But greater opportunities and higher valuations also bring greater demands for earnings, cash flow and capital efficiency.

Manh Ha