Asia Commercial Bank reports 5 new shareholders holding at least 1% stake

Vietnam’s private lender Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) has announced an updated list of shareholders owning 1% or more of its charter capital, with five additional names.

The new faces include institutions and individuals. The old list was released in late July.

Among them, Giang Sen Investment Trading JSC holds over 80.2 million shares, equivalent to a nearly 1.8% stake. People related to this company own over 5.1%.

Bach Thanh Investment Trading JSC possesses more than 55.9 million shares, or 1.25%; and related persons 5.6%.

According to ACB's governance report for the first half of 2024, both Giang Sen and Bach Thanh are institutional shareholders connected to ACB chairman Tran Hung Huy.

The July list showed that Huy owned over 153 million shares, or over 3.42% of the total. Collectively, shareholders linked to him held over 8.2% of ACB’s charter capital.

Another institutional shareholder in the updated list is Thien Huong International Education JSC, which owns nearly 58.6 million ACB shares, or 1.3%. Its related persons hold over 107.7 million shares, equating to 2.4%.

Thien Huong is led by Ngo Thu Thuy, who is both chairwoman and legal representative. She is also chairwoman of Ho Chi Minh City-based Aulac JSC which is primarily engaged in transportation of petroleum and domestic and international sea freight.

Aulac recorded total assets of nearly VND2.55 trillion ($103.48 million) by the end of June. Its revenue in H1 reached VND795.6 billion ($22.28 million), while post-tax profit hit VND171 billion ($6.94 million), up 55% and 87% year-on-year respectively.

Two new individual shareholders who own over 1% of ACB’s charter capital are Nguyen Thien Huong Jenny and Nguyen Duc Hieu Johnny, both are Thuy's children. Thus, the entire Aulac group now holds an over 3.7% stake.

Thuy, born in 1967, is a well-known entrepreneur in Ho Chi Minh City. She gained wider recognition in the financial sector in late 2015 when the Aulac group emerged in the "power struggle" at Eximbank (EIB).

Aulac JSC was a long-time shareholder of Eximbank, and Thuy was a senior advisor to its board in 2015. In 2022, Aulac divested all its stake from Eximbank before purchasing over 14 million ACB shares. In Q1 of this year, the company quickly sold all ACB shares.

With the recent acquisition of over 166.3 million ACB shares, the Aulac group has re-entered ACB. Based on the closing price of VND24,650 ($1) apiece on Wednesday, their total holdings are valued at more than VND4 trillion ($162.32 million).