Vietnam has new billionaires as more companies enter bourse

VietNamNet Bridge - The list of the richest stock billionaires has changed recently with the appearance of many new names after their businesses listed shares on the bourse.

VietNamNet Bridge - The list of the richest stock billionaires has changed recently with the appearance of many new names after their businesses listed shares on the bourse.

Mr Truong Viet Vu

The listing of Pymepharco, the No 2 firm in the pharmacy sector, is expected to create a new billionaire – Truong Viet Vu — with stock assets worth hundreds of billions of dong.

More than 65 million Pymepharco shares (PME) will officially debut on November 8 following a decision by the HCMC Stock Exchange.

With the reference price of VND68,000 per share for the first trading session and the allowed +/- 20 percent trading band, the PME price may increase to VND80 trillion and the company’s capitalization value may reach VND5.2 trillion. German pharmacy firm Stada Service Holding B.V holds 49 percent of shares, worth VND2.6 trillion. Meanwhile, Vu, with 13.2 percent of shares, has stock assets of VND700 billion, or $30 million.

At present, 77 percent of PME is held by institutional shareholders. Besides Stada, Pymepharco has two other big shareholders, namely Well Light and Well Link which hold a 15 percent stake.

Vu is a well-known businessman. He is chair of Pha No, a pharmacy firm, and member of the board of directors of Imexpharm where he holds a 13.16 percent stake.

Vietjet, the private air carrier which listed shares in early 2017, has reported profit of VND3 trillion in the first nine months. Its CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao has been recognized by Forbes as the first female billionaire in Vietnam and South East Asia with stock assets of approximately $2 billion.

The list of the richest stock billionaires has changed recently with the appearance of many new names after their businesses listed shares on the bourse.

Thao has appeared on Forbes’ newly released list of 100 most powerful women in the world. She is 55th on the list and 1,251 on the list of the world’s billionaires.

The listing of VP Bank shares in July has also created a series of super-rich men. VPB shares of VP Bank have bounced back recently to VND39,000 per share. This has helped raise the stock asset value of Ngo Chi Dung to VND2.7 trillion. It is estimated that Dung and his family members now have $300 million worth of shares.

A number of new billionaires have appeared because of the retail and real estate market boom. With the profit skyrocketing by 47 times in the third quarter of the year, Luong Tri Thin, a big name in the real estate sector, now holds asset value worth hundreds of billions of dong.

The closing VN Index on October 31 was 837.27 points, and HNX Index 105.16.

Billionaires vye for top “richest” spot

H. Tu