VietNamNet Bridge – Thirty years after the doi moi (renovation) was kicked off
and 10 years after the stock market made its debut, Vietnam has had a
billionaire recognized in the world. Who would be the second billionaire?
Mr Dao Hong Tuyen
Pham Nhat Vuong has become the first Vietnamese billionaire to enter Forbes’
list of world’s richest individuals, with total assets of US$1.5 billion as
estimated by March 2013.
Doan Nguyen Duc, the brilliant candidate
The most likely candidate among the Vietnamese businessmen for the title of the
second billionaire in Vietnam is Doan Nguyen Duc, Chair of Hoang Anh Gia Lai
Group.
Duc, the businessman who has poured his money into many business fields, from
rubber plantation to hydropower, real estate to football club, was twice named
in the list of the Vietnamese richest stock millionaires in 2008 and 2009.
In those two years, Duc was believed to be richer than Pham Nhat Vuong. However,
since the Hoang Anh Gia Lai’s stakes saw the prices drop sharply in 2010, 2011
and 2012, Duc felt into the second position in the list of stock millionaires.
Therefore, though being the only person who expresses his aspiration for
becoming a billionaire in the world, Duc has yet reached his goal.
Duc was still firm on the second position of the 2012 list of stock
millionaires, but he was left far behind by Pham Nhat Vuong. By the end of 2012,
Vuong held VND17 trillion worth of shares, while Duc, though seeing the asset
value increasing considerably by 30 percent in 2012, had had VND5,600 billion
worth of shares.
However, though the stock prices have fallen down sharply, Duc still has been
highly appreciated in the business circle. Hoang Anh Gia Lai, which took loss
with domestic real estate projects, has been earning money from other sources of
income. The conglomerate has shifted its focus on rubber plantation, with the
projects on growing 51,000 hectares of rubber in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.
It is estimated that when the 51,000 hectares of rubber is put into
exploitation, rubber plants alone would bring $300 million a year to Hoang Anh
Gia Lai/
Meanwhile, the $300 million real estate project developed by Hoang Anh Gia Lai
in Yangon, Myanmar would bring multi-billion dollars to the conglomerate, if the
Myanmar market heats up in the next five years.
The rubber, sugar cane projects in Laos could also be the big assets of the
businessman. Once all the projects make profit, the prices of Hoang Anh Gia Lai
stakes would increase rapidly, which also means that Duc’s asses would also
increase accordingly.
The hidden billionaires
They are called “hidden candidates” because there has been no exact information
about the actual assets of the billionaires. In Vietnam, people believe that the
richest people in the stock market might not be the richest people in Vietnam.
There are many billionaires whose assets have not been known to people simply
because their businesses have not yet listed shares on the bourse, or the
information about their assets has not been exposed to the public.
The Vietnamese billionaires would enter the Forbes’ list of the billionaires of
the word any time once their businesses list shares.
Dao Hong Tuyen, who is called “the island’s kind” in Vietnam, is believed to be
the owner of a lot of companies throughout the country and the owner of a series
of real estate projects.
There has been no exact information about the value of the assets Tuyen
possesses, but Tuyen said his assets are worth two billion dollars.
The owner of Geneximco Vu Van Tien has also been well known in the business
circle with the real estate projects in many localities from the north to the
south.
Huan Tu