VietNamNet Bridge - The 2016 list of stock billionaires showed big changes compared with the 2015 list. Many new faces are on the list, while Pham Nhat Vuong, who topped the 2015 list, fell to number two.

Trading floors were lit green in the last trading session of 2016 with VN Index closing at 664.87 points and HNX Index 80.12.

As such, the VN Index had increased by 14.82 percent by the end of 2016 and HNX Index by 0.2 percent compared with the end of 2015.

According to Bizlive, the total stock assets of 500 richest billionaires are VND167.483 trillion, or $7.3 billion. 

Of this, 10 richest billionaires have assets accounting for 58.20 percent of total assets of the 500 billionaires. The assets of Trinh Van Quyet and Pham Nhat Vuong, who are in No 1 and No 2 positions, alone accounts for 20.18 percent and 18.16 percent.

Nine out of 10 richest billionaires in the 2015 list did not stay in their positions. Many new names appeared in the 2016 list after their businesses began listing shares on the bourse.

Trinh Van Quyet, president of FLC, a real estate developer, has become the 2016 richest stock billionaire. 

He was in the 28th position in last year’s list. Quyet’s stock assets have been increasing rapidly since September 2016, after ROS shares were put into transactions on the HCMC Stock Exchange. On November 11, 2016, Quyet officially became the richest person on the Vietnamese stock market.

Quyet started his business as a lawyer and investment consultant. Later he became a trader and joined the real estate market.

Savills, a real estate service provider, estimates that the total real estate projects, from housing, resort real estate and industrial zones throughout the country developed by FLC are valued at over $3 billion (VND66 trillion).

With the December 30 closing price, Quyet’s total assets had reached VND33.806 trillion.

Meanwhile, Pham Nhat Vuong, who topped the list of richest stock billionaires in the last seven years, has been dethroned. He is now in the second position with asset value of VND30.410 trillion.

President of Hoa Phat Group Tran Dinh Long ranks third with VND7.962 trillion, one grade lower than last year, though steel shares are still attractive to investors.

Novaland just entered the bourse on December 28 and its president Bui Thanh Nhon was added into the list of the richest stock billionaires just one day later. With 126 million NLV shares, Nhon has VND7.584 trillion in stock assets. 

Pham Thu Huong, the wife of Pham Nhat Vuong, has fallen into the fifth position, while her younger sister Pham Thuy Hang, deputy chair of Vingroup, has fallen into the seventh position.

Mai Thanh