Novaland appoints first foreign CEO

The Malaysian national will take over from Nguyen Ngoc Huyen, who resigned the same day, for the 2023-2028 term, the company said in a statement Friday.

Yow has nearly 30 years of experience in developing business strategies and making financial analysis for investment companies and property developers.

He used to be the CEO of property developer Gamuda Land Vietnam.

In early February, Novaland announced that Bui Thanh Nhon, chairman of the NovaGroup, had returned to be the chairman of Novaland after leaving it in the hands of Bui Xuan Huy for over a year.

Huy then resigned from the board of directors after another board member, Hoang Thu Chau, resigned to focus on management at NovaGroup, the largest shareholder of Novaland. She is NovaGroup CEO.

Nhon and his affiliated organizations own a combined 52.66% stake in Novaland.

The company announced last September that it would go through a major restructuring after facing liquidity issues.

Novaland wants to increase its capital by VND29.25 trillion (US$1.24 billion) to VND48.75 billion by issuing 1.95 billion shares to existing shareholders, and another 975 million in private placement.

The company is negotiating with credit organizations to arrange capital and is also working with local authorities to untie problems at its property projects, the statement said.