Five Vietnamese billionaires amass assets worth $14.4 billion

By Nguyen Quy January 2, 2020 | 04:44 pm PT

Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao (C), Pham Nhat Vuong (L, upper line), Nguyen Dang Quang (R, upper line), Ho Hung Anh (L, lower line), Tran Ba Duong (R, lower line). Photo acquired by VnExpress.

The Forbes magazine has assessed total assets of five Vietnamese billionaires at $14.4 billion as of December 31, up $800 million over March.

Pham Nhat Vuong, chairman of Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate Vingroup, remained the richest person in Vietnam with a net worth of $7.6 billion, a $1 billion increase from March, ranking 242nd on the magazine’s list of richest people in the world.

His current asset value is more than five times that of 2013, when he made it into Forbes’s billionaire list for the first time, with total assets of $1.5 billion.

Vingroup is a major player in the nation’s real estate, retail, logistics, agriculture, education and healthcare sectors.

The CEO of budget carrier Vietjet Air, Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, is in 935th place with a worth of $2.7 billion, up $400 million over March.

Meanwhile, the two newcomers who made their debut on Forbes’s billionaires list saw their total asset value fall.

Ho Hung Anh, chairman of the Vietnam Technological & Commercial Joint-Stock Bank, or Techcombank, was 1,770th in the current ranking, with his total assets $1.4 billion, down $300 million against March.

Meanwhile, Masan Group founder Nguyen Dang Quang ranked 2,167th, with total assets of $1 billion, a $300 million fall from March.

On December 11, Quang's net worth was estimated at $980.8 million, down 25 percent since March, as the price of MSN shares, which account for the majority of his assets, fell steeply. It began falling following an announcement by Vingroup on December 3 that it had reached a deal with Masan to merge their retail subsidiaries to form a new company.

Quang made it to the Forbes list for the first time last March with a net worth of $1.3 billion. He founded Masan, a major producer of fish sauce and packaged foods, in 2004.

Tran Ba Duong, chairman of the Truong Hai Auto Corporation (THACO), who made it to the Forbes list for the second time last March at $1.7 billion, has seen the value of his assets unchanged as of December 31. He is in the 1,477th position.

Duong founded THACO in 1997. The company assembles cars for foreign brands such as Kia, Mazda and Peugeot, apart from producing its own buses and trucks.