Vietnamese billionaires up wealth by $500 mln as stock market hits new peak

The richest man in Vietnam, Pham Nhat Vuong, chairman of conglomerate Vingroup, saw his net worth up $342 million, or 4 percent, to $8.4 billion.

Vingroup’s VIC ticker ended Thursday with its seventh gaining session in a row, up by a total of 15 percent since March 23.

It was the top contributor to the gain of almost 25 points by Vietnam’s benchmark VN-Index Thursday, sending it to a new historic peak of 1,216 points.

Vuong was followed by Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, CEO of budget airline Vietjet, with a net worth increase of $65 million from Thursday, or 2.5 percent, to $2.7 billion.

The value of VJC of Vietjet has increased by 10 percent since this year’s bottom at the end of January.

In third place is Tran Dinh Long, chairman of leading steelmaker Hoa Phat Group, whose net worth went up $85 million, or 3.75 percent, to $2.4 billion.

HPG of steelmaker Hoa Phat Group climbed to its own historic peak Monday, having increased by nearly 16 percent this year.

The chairman of Vietnam’s biggest private lender Techcombank, Ho Hung Anh, earned $7 million more, or 0.4 percent, to $1.6 billion.

Ticker TCB rose for the sixth consecutive session Monday and is 1.4 percent away from reaching its peak of March 19.

The net worth of Tran Ba Duong, chairman of leading automaker Truong Hai Auto Corporation (Thaco), remained unchanged at $1.6 billion as Thaco’s shares are not listed.

Nguyen Dang Quang, chairman of conglomerate Masan Group, lost $3 million, or 0.22 percent, to see his worth fall to $1.2 billion. MSN was the only blue-chip ticker in the red Thursday, with a 0.2 percent fall.