HAGL boss poised to earn most money from bourse

Between January and October, Hoang Anh Gia Lai’s (HAGL) chairman Doan Nguyen Duc bought his corporation’s shares twice, raising his holdings to 259.67 million shares, equal to 48.3 per cent of the group’s chartered capital.

Last week, HAGL shares hovered at around VND20,000 ($1 minus) each and the level was about 20 per cent higher than that in the beginning of the year. Such increases added VND1,024 billion ($49.2 million) of equity assets to Duc’s stake in the company, the country’s second-biggest listed property developer.

HAGL concentrates its property development in southern Vietnam, with Ho Chi Minh City taking centre stage. Home prices in the economic hub surged almost threefold from 2004 to the first quarter of 2008, according to CBRE Group data. Values then fell as the Vietnamese government raised interest rates and restricted lending for real estate and other non-productive sectors to curb inflation. The city’s real estate market is dull currently.

As of November 1, Hoa Sen Group chairman Le Phuoc Vu, ranked second after Duc with an additional VND392 billion ($19 million) worth of shares compared with the beginning of the year. Vu’s equity asset increases were by far under Duc’s. Hoa Sen manufactures and trades steel and building materials, with business also affected by the dull property market.

Hoang Anh Gia Lai said Fitch Ratings withdrew the group’s credit ratings October 23 at its own request. However, Fitch said it had withdrawn the ratings due to insufficient information. On October 1, Standard & Poor's Ratings said it was withdrawing all HAGL’s ratings at the company's request. Given with Fitch and S&P withdrawals, no international ratings agencies are providing the services to HAGL.

The corporation’s business scope includes real estate, rubber, mining, hydropower, furniture, and hotels and resorts.