Hot bourse plays host to billionaires

Pham Nhat Vuong, chairman of leading private firm Vingroup, continues topping the table of the 10 richest people on the national bourse.

As of December 29, 2017, the final trading session of the year, Vuong’s total asset value reached VND119.2 trillion ($5.4 billion) – significantly higher than the VND30.4 trillion ($1.4 billion) he amassed by the same point the year prior.

Most of Vuong’s assets are with Vingroup (ticker code: VIC). The company’s management report for the first half of 2017 revealed that Vuong held nearly 724 million Vingroup shares (27.5 per cent of the company’s chartered capital). Meanwhile, Vietnam Investment Group JSC – of which Vuong holds a nearly 93 per cent stake – itself manages more than 880 million Vingroup shares (33.4 per cent). Vuong thus, directly or otherwise, holds 1.54 billion Vingroup shares – which are valued at VND119.2 trillion ($5.4 billion).

Throughout 2017, Vingroup stock’s value rose by nearly 90 per cent to reach around VND77,000 ($3.50) per share in 2017’s last trading session.

Beside core operations in the likes of real estate, tourism, and retail, in 2017 Vingroup expanded considerably with the VinFast mega auto manufacturing complex project now under construction in the port city of Haiphong, and in a record $740 million stock sale in Vincom Retail, a subsidiary of Vingroup.

The same year, Vingroup surpassed major auto manufacturing and assembling company Truong Hai Auto Corporation to become Vietnam’s largest private business on the VNR500 table.

Coming second on 2017’s richest on the Vietnamese bourse table is Trinh Van Quyet, chairman of the board at private real estate developer FLC Group.

By the end of 2017, the total stock asset value under Quyet’s direct ownership reached VND58.9 trillion ($2.7 billion), an excess of VND25 trillion ($1.1 billion) compared to the end of 2016.

Quyet currently owns more than 318.5 million FLC Faros shares, over 135 million of FLC’s, and 2.63 million of Artex’s.

FLC Faros, assuming the role of both developer and contractor, reportedly owns a portfolio of construction projects with total value of about VND20 trillion ($914 million).

According to Vietnam Report’s tables Profit500 and VNR500, in 2017 FLC Faros was among both the 500 most profitable businesses, and the 500 largest businesses, in Vietnam.

The third-, fourth-, and fifth-richest shareholders on the Vietnamese bourse, respectively, are Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, CEO of fledgling budget carrier Vietjet, Tran Dinh Long, chairman of leading steelmaker Hoa Phat Group (HPG), and Ho Xuan Nang, chairman of the board at Vicostone (ticker code: VCS), the largest manufacturer of artificial stone in Vietnam.

The total stock asset value under Thao’s direct and indirect ownership reached VND24.7 trillion ($1.1 billion) as 2017 drew to a close. The value of her stock is expected to go up further, as commercial lender HDBank – for which Thao acts a deputy standing chairwoman – made its debut on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange last week.

On Forbes’ October 2017 table of the richest people in the world, Thao came in at 55th – 10 places above former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The former is the only woman from Vietnam and Southeast Asia with assets of more than $1 billion.

Meanwhile, Tran Dinh Long currently owns upwards of 382 million HPG shares, the total value of which – around VND18 trillion ($812 million) – nearly doubled as HPG stock’s price jumped by almost 100 per cent in 2017.

Vicostone’s Ho Xuan Nang has amassed a total stock asset value of VND13 trillion ($603 million). With profits exceeding VND1.1 trillion ($50 million) in 2017, Vicostone has joined the club of businesses counting trillions in annual profits.

Pham Thu Huong, Vingroup’s deputy chairwoman and spouse of first-placed Pham Nhat Vuong, came in sixth with more than 124.8 million Vingroup shares, valued at VND10 trillion ($438.6 million).

In seventh is Bui Thanh Nhon, chairman of major Ho Chi Minh City-based real estate developer Novaland (NVL). His NVL shares are about 146 million, an equivalent of VND9.5 trillion ($431 million) in value.

Pham Thuy Hang, younger sister of Pham Thu Huong, comes in eighth, owning around 83 million Vingroup shares, with a total asset value of VND6.4 trillion ($293 million).

In ninth is Nguyen Duc Tai, chairman and CEO of The Gioi Di Dong JSC, Vietnam’s largest distribution chain of mobile phones and home appliances – holding around 46.4 million The Gioi Di Dong shares, valued at VND6 trillion ($267.5 million) in total.

The tenth-richest stockholder is Vu Thi Hien, the spouse of fourth-ranked Tran Dinh Long, holding more than 110 million HPG shares worth more than VND5.1 trillion ($235.3 million) worth.