Pham Nhat Vuong has become the first Vietnamese
billionaire to enter the list of world’s richest individuals, with total
assets of US$1.5 billion as estimated in March 2013.
Pham ranks 974th in the list voted by Forbes, with his
US$1.5 billion billionaireworth based largely on the 53 percent stake
he owns (both indirectly and directly) in Vingroup, a real estate
development firm.
Born in Hanoi in 1968, Pham started his career in Ukraine by producing
instant noodles, eventually styling himself as Ukraine’s processed-food
king.
By 2010, when Pham sold the company for an estimated US$150 million to
Nestle, his noodle company, Technocom, had revenues of US$100 million.
This highly unconventional post-Soviet success story had a twist. For
years Pham had been gradually funneling the funds from his Ukrainian
noodle empire into real estate projects back in his homeland.
In Vietnam, Pham’s decision to invest in real estate projects
resulted in the 225-room, deluxe Vinpearl Resort Nha Trang. Here,
again, Pham found quick success. The next year he introduced Vincom
Center Ba Trieu, the first commercial tower complex in Hanoi. Three
years later he added 260 more rooms to Vinpearl, along with a 2-mile
cable car connecting the island to the mainland.
Pham followed this with several high-end townships in Hanoi,
including Vincom Village, a luxury development with hundreds of villas.
Vincom, comprising Pham’s commercial and residential real estate
interests, went public in 2007, while he maintained Vinpearl as a
separate company for his luxury resort business.
Last year Pham merged the two companies to create Vingroup, which is
now the fifth most valuable company on the Vietnamese stock exchange.
VOV