In July 2016, Nguyen Thi Nguyet Huong was denied her status of National Assembly’s delegate due to breaking the law on nationality. It was also the time when firms related to TNG Holdings, which were founded by Huong and her husband Tran Anh Tuan, Chairman of Maritime Bank, started selling assets.
The total amount of asset sale which reached several hundred million dollars is supposed to be invested in real estate projects which are being developed by firms related to TNG Holdings.
Financial sector: Securities firm and fund management firm were sold
In mid-2017, Maritime Bank sold all of its 81 million shares (code: MBB) to Ha Nam Development JSC. Based on Maritime Bank's profit and prime cost, the deal was about VND2 trillion (approximately US$90 million).
Tuan once held a 50 per cent stake in Trust Principle Fund JSC (TPF). After several transfers to individuals, TPF's shareholders have recently sold 100 per cent of TPF’s shares to Mirae Asset Global Investment.
In two months ago, Maritime Securities Incoporation (MSI) was sold to the Korea-based KB Financial group for US$33 million. The seller is a group of 14 individuals and organizations, including companies related to TNG Group, namely MB Assets Management Company Limited and Nam Duc Co., Ltd.
Shares in Vinatex are offered for sale
The Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) allowed VID Group, the predecessor of TNG Holdings, to transfer free 70 million shares bought in 2014 in the form of strategic partners. According to regulations, VID Group has to hold these share for five years but the Group has requested to divest only after 3 years of acquisition.
It is understood that a Japanese corporation has reached an agreement to purchase half of these shares worth about US$23 million. However, by September 2017, the transaction had not been implemented yet. With the recent removal of the transfer restriction, this transaction is expected to be completed in the near future.
Real Estate Sector: TNR Towers are offered for sale
At the end of October, media reported that Korea-based Hanwha Life Insurance Co. (Hanwha) was providing funds for Seoul-based Koramco Asset Management Co. (Koramco) to acquire TNR Tower Nguyen Cong Tru for a selling price of US$62 million.
TNR Tower Nguyen Cong Tru is the property managed by TNR Holdings, a member of TNG Holdings.
Although Koramco is listed as the buyer, sources close to the matter say the main motivation for the deal is to provide space for Hanwha to expand its operation in Vietnam.
In the field of real estate, M&A brokers said that TNR Holdings also offered two other office buildings for sale in Hanoi namely TNR Tower Nguyen Chi Thanh and TNR Tower Tran Hung Dao. In 2016, TNR Tower Nguyen Chi Thanh was bought for US$110 million by Vingroup.
Apartment projects under construction are focused on investment
TNG Holdings was introduced as a multi-sector group investing in many fields such as finance, banking, minerals, agro-forestry, retail and real estate.
In the field of real estate, its member company, TNR Holdings, is developing four projects namely Goldmark City, GoldSeason, Goldsilk Complex (Ha Hoi) and The Goldview (Ho Chi Minh city). Except for GoldSeason, the remaining projects have already had apartments handed over to customers.
However, TNR Holdings still needs a large amount of capital to complete these projects and implement other projects. Currently, the company is developing two urban area projects namely Star Tan Truong in Hai Duong province (32ha) and Star Dong Van in Ha Nam province (46ha)…
