Vietnamese 'mega' company fizzles after six months

Nguyen Vu Quoc Anh, CEO and the legal representative of the HCMC-based company, signed the decision to dissolve the company on December 31, six months after its incorporation. This was received by the National Business Registration Portal a week later.

"The reason for dissolution is that the shareholders didn't pay for the number of shares registered to buy as declared in the initial registration dossier," the dissolution notice says.

The group, specializing in computer programming, was established in May last year. It registered a charter capital of VND500 trillion, or 6 percent of Vietnam's 2021 GDP, far exceeding the market cap of Vietnam's biggest companies like Vingroup, Vietcombank and Hoa Phat Group.

Anh, 36, had told VnExpress last June that he was being prudent in registering to raise such an unprecedented sum; and planned to work with Vietcombank, Techcombank, OceanBank and real estate companies like Novaland and FLC to mobilize the funds.

"I used to work for big companies like Central Group, Vingroup, SCI Group and K-Group, and so I know many people. I don't have funding issues," he asserted.

He also mentioned the possibility of raising money from foreign investors.

The company, which was registered at the Bitexco Financial Tower in HCMC’s District 1, was required to raise the capital within 90 days from May 20, the day it was incorporated.

Anh claimed to be the biggest shareholder with a 99.996 percent stake in the company while other shareholders, listed as Nguyen Thi Diem Hang and Luu Huu Thien, held stakes of 0.002 percent each.

The company also targeted revenues of $1 billion this year and $30-50 billion in the next 20-30 years, mostly from selling software products.

Global Auto Business Group JSC (GAB Group), the legal entity to which the three shareholders of the ‘mega’ company registered to contribute capital to, has also announced its dissolution at the same time as the Auto Investment Group.