VietNamNet Bridge – Dubbed as a “stock tycoon” after a period of "silence", Mr. Nguyen Duy Hung and his family have returned with a series of big deals.

SSI Chair Nguyen Duy Hung.

In 2006 when the stock market began to boom, Saigon Securities Incorporation (SSI) was the largest one, with huge charter capital and a large market share.

SSI chairman Nguyen Duy Hung (born 1962) also became one of the richest people in the Vietnam Stock Exchange.

However, in 2008, when the stock market plunged, Hung’s position on the stock market also went down. Information about Hung and his family was not updated often.

On Sept 29 2014, ANZ and SSI jointly announced that ANZ would disinvest the entire 17.5% stake, worth hundreds of millions of USD from SSI.

This was also the time Hung and his family marked an extravagant comeback on the Vietnamese stock market.

Immediately after the notification of the ANZ’s divestment, Hung and related parties purchased up to 29.3 million shares of SSI shares, equivalent to 8.3% of the company’s capital.

Hung alone bought 11.3 million shares. Saigon Dan Linh Real Estate, a company of Hung’s younger brother – Nguyen Hong Nam – purchased 7 million shares and Duong Mat Troi Investment Company, owned by Nguyen Manh Hung, another brother of Hung, bought 11 million shares.

Earlier, Hung’s family made many transactions with SSI shares. Particularly, on September 22, 2014 Nam, SSI deputy general director and his wife transferred 18.2 million shares of SSI to Sai Gon Dan Linh Real Estate. In early September, Hung transferred 294,000 shares to his own company NDH Vietnam.

Except for the deal with ANZ, the remaining transactions of SSI shares took place within Hung’s family. The companies participating in the transactions were controlled by Hung and his brothers.

Most recently, at the 2015 SSI shareholders’ meeting, Hung’s son - Nguyen Duy Khanh (born 1991) - was elected to the Board of Directors.

“BIBICA war”

Hung is not only known as the boss of SSI but also for competition with Lotte, a consortium of Korea, to purchase a stake in Bibica, a big domestic confectionery company.

In March 2015, PAN Food Company, with Hung as Chairman, offered to buy BIBICA to increase its ownership to over 51%. This showed Hung’s determination to take control of this business.

The two big shareholders in BIBICA are Lotte Confectionery and SSI. Lotte is still the largest shareholder of Bibica with 44.03% of shares. PAN Food owns 21.13%. ABT and Duong Mat Troi hold 3.46% and 12.31%. As Duong Mat Troi is owned by Hung’s brother, the total ownership rate of Hung’s family is over 33%.

After twice raising the ownership rate in Bibica, PAN Food continued to offer to purchase 4.6 million shares, equivalent to 29.87% of charter capital.

If PAN Food is successful in this transaction, its ownership rate will be 51%. With the shares of Duong Mat Troi, Hung and his brother will take control of Bibica.

Hung has recently decided to invest in agriculture, a new investment movement in Vietnam.

In late August 2014, PAN bought more than 260,000 shares of the Central Seed Company to increase the percentage of ownership to nearly 55% of charter capital.

In recent years, SSI has earned huge profits from many companies operating in the agriculture, fisheries and food industries such as HVG, SSC, LAF, GIL ...

Currently, Nguyen Duy Hung is still one of the richest people on the Vietnam Stock Exchange, with assets estimated at more than 1,000 billion.

$1 = VND21,500

NDT