Vietnam’s chaebols: The power of femininity at Quoc Cuong Gia Lai
Vietnam’s chaebols: The power of femininity at Quoc Cuong Gia Lai
Owning more than 55% of shares with a value of VND15,000 billion, the family of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Nhu Loan holds control of Quoc Cuong Gia Lai Corporation.
The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Pleiku, Vietnam.
It has registered business in many different fields including wood trade, hydropower, rubber and real estate. However, it has been well known to everyone as a big guy in the real estate sector.
Nguyen Quoc Cuong, Deputy General Director of Quoc Cuong Gia Lai, deserves credit for making the company famous to everybody. However, the information about Cuong relates mostly to his luxury car collection or beauties. Cuong is also the spokesman of the group, but he very rarely turns up before the press to talk about the company’s business activities. The person who comes forward and answers the questions raised from the public has always been Nguyen Thi Nhu Loan, Chair of the Board of Directors and CEO of Quoc Cuong Gia Lai, who is the mother of Cuong.
Loan is currently the largest shareholder of Quoc Cuong Gia Lai. Other big shareholders are Loan’s daughter, Nguyen Ngoc Huyen My, Loan’s younger sister Nguyen Thi Anh Nguyet, and Loan’s son Nguyen Quoc Cuong (better known as Cuong Dollar).
Loan has nearly 102 million shares of Quoc Cuong Gia Lai, representing 37.5% of the charter capital, worth about VND960 billion. She ranked 21st on the list of the richest people in the Vietnam Stock Exchange in 2014.
Loan’s daughter - Huyen My – is the second biggest shareholder at Quoc Cuong Gia Lai. Her shares are worth over VND390 billion, accounting for 14.32 percent of the group’s chartered capital.
Huyen My is considered a “mysterious” character because she is not on the group’s board of directors or the management board.
She is now in the top 40 under-40 richest people on the stock market of Vietnam.
Nguyen Thi Anh Nguyet, Loan’s younger sister, was previously an "anonymous" shareholder with only 3,700 shares. However, currently Nguyet has nearly 10 million shares, accounting for 3.52 % of the charter capital of the company, equivalent to almost VND90 billion.
Loan’s son Nguyen Quoc Cuong, who is very well-known as a super-car collector, is the Deputy General Director of Quoc Cuong Gia Lai but he owns only 537,000 shares, equivalent to about VND5 billion.
Thus, with more than 55% of shares, worth VND15,000 billion, this family now controls Quoc Cuong Gia Lai Group.
However, real estate has swept away a lot of money of Quoc Cuong Gia Lai Group since 2011.
2011 was considered the start of the downturn of this group of the family of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Nhu Loan, with a loss of VND39.83 billion.
In 2012, this group incurred losses of VND2.64 billion in the first nine months.
In 2013, the situation did not improve and the group earned only VND360 million of profit at the end of the third quarter. By September 30, its cash flow was only VND1.75 billion, down from VND48 billion at the beginning of the year.
In 2014, the corporation’s revenue in the first quarter was reported at nearly VND42 billion, down by 65%.
In the fourth quarter 2014, its revenue was five times less than the same period of 2013.
According to the latest news, this group’s revenue in the first quarter of 2015 was VND43 billion, a slight increase of 2% over the same period last year. However, its gross profit was only VND600 million, down 64% year on year.
A sign showing the decline of Quoc Cuong Gia Lai is that Cuong Dollar is no longer importing new super cars. Nguyen Quoc Cuong was known for his purchase of super-expensive cars.
