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Anonymous millionaires keep people guessing
Local newspapers recently made public the names of stock millionaires and their assets’ values. Financial experts believe that these are just the tip of the iceberg, since the names of many other millionaires remain unknown.
Unlike many other countries, in Vietnam, assets of people have not been valuated by any agency or independent organization.
Tien Phong newspaper has identified some “big guys” who are believed to have colossal fortunes.
The owner of Dai Nam tourism complex
The Dai Nam Tourism Complex in Binh Duong Province is thought to become the biggest entertainment complex in Southeast Asia. So just who is the owner?
On paper, the project’s investor is Dai Nam Joint Stock Company, in which Huynh Uy Dung holds controlling shares. The company’s predecessors were Thanh Le Joint Stock Company and then Song Than Industrial Zone Development Company.
Dung, well known by his nickname “Dung Lo Voi” (Limekiln), has been cited as a billionaire since the 1990s. People speculate that Dung earned his fortune with successful projects at Song Than 1, 2 and 3 Industrial Zone, each of which covers hundreds of hectares. Dung has also succeeded with many real estate projects in Binh Duong province.
It is estimated that the investment capital disbursed for the Dai Nam project has reached nearly two trillion dong, while the project is expected to be capitalized at 3 trillion dong.
Dai Nam is a joint stock company, but the stock volume held by Dung and family members has not been made public. That explains why people do not know the exact value of Dung’s fortune compared with that of Dang Thanh Tam or Pham Nhat Vuong, the listed stock millionaires.
Now that Dung owns a series of industrial zones, companies and real estate projects and the tourism complex, one can be sure that his total assets have reached many trillions of dong.
Mrs. Tu Huong
After Hoan Cau Company of Nguyen Thi Huong organized Miss Universe in 2008 in Khanh Hoa province, Huong and Hoan Cau have become more well known.
People guess that Huong is now the richest woman in Vietnam, though they cannot measure her stock assets. Many were surprised that Hoan Cau spent more than $10 million to organize the Miss Universe pageant. They spent hundreds of billions of dong within one year to turn Diamond Bay into a complex able to organize the pageant.
Huong now owns a lot of real estate in the central region, HCM City and many other cities. People believe that Huong is in no way inferior to the top 10 men recognized as the richest stock millionaires in Vietnam.
In the early 1990s, Huong was famous for two commercial ventures that potentially offered profits of tens of millions of dollar, enormous sums of money at that time. Huong spent $15 million to build Vinagel and then resold to San Miguel at $25 million. After that, Huong spent five million dollars to build another factory and then sold to Lipovital at $17 million.
The ‘King’ of Tuan Chau Island
Four years ago, Le Figaro in Hanoi had an article about the first billionaires in Vietnam, naming Dao Hong Tuyen, who was called the ‘king’ of Tuan Chau Island. There was also a picture of Ha Long Bay, where Tuan Chau island was turned into a famous tourism complex that received five million tourists in 2005. At that time most people assumed that Tuyen was the richest person in Vietnam.
The Ministry of Finance has since valuated the two out of 14 of his companies at 10 trillion dong, proving showed that the French journalist was correct. Just how wealthy Tuyen actually is remains an unknown.
Kidnappers demanded $10 million for his son
In mid December 2009, a project at Long Toan port complex in Tra Vinh province kicked off with investment capital of 1,700 billion dong from Tram Be. The event reminded people about the kidnapping of Tram Trong Ngan, his son.
Binh, the kidnapper, claimed before the court that he demanded $10 million from Be because he knew that Be was very rich.
Just how rich? Three years ago, one newspaper estimated that Be’s total assets were 2 trillion dong, after considering that Be was the main shareholder of Phuong Nam Bank and Chairman of Trieu An, the biggest private hospital in HCM City.
Meanwhile, Be is also the owner of some tens of other companies with capital of hundreds of billions of dong, including Ham Giang.
VietNamNet, TP
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