Fate of property developer FLC’s stocks hangs in the balance after trading suspension

All stocks in real estate developer FLC Group's ecosystem have been suspended from trading and their fate remains uncertain as former chairman awaits trial for alleged market manipulation.

The trading of stocks was suspended immediately after they were delisted from major stock exchanges and transferred to the Unlisted Public Companies Market (UPCoM) over serious information disclosure violations.

Riches to rags

When the stock market thrived in 2021-2022, stocks belonging to the FLC Group ecosystem, like FLC of FLC Group, ROS of FLC Faros, HAI of HAI Agrochem, AMD of FLC Stone, KLF of CFS Investment and Import Export Trading JSC, and GAB of FLC Mining Investment & Asset Management JSC were popular names.

Not only did they record strong gains in value, they also saw huge transaction volumes. FLC and ROS tickers often saw 20-30 million shares being traded per session. ART, HAI, and AMD tickers also recorded several million shares changing hands.

After the then chairman Trinh Van Quyet’s illegal sale of nearly 75 million FLC shares was discovered on January 10, 2022, stocks in the FLC family, except GAB, experienced a shocking slip to below VND4,000 ($0.16) per share.

To protect investors, tickers related to Quyet were delisted from the major stock exchanges. At the beginning of 2024, the delisting axe fell on the last remaining stock in the ecosystem, KLF of CFS Investment and Import Export Trading JSC.

According to regulations, when stocks are delisted from the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) or the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), they are transferred to UPCoM for trading.

This time, contrary to investors' expectations, the FLC family’s stocks were suspended from trading as soon as they landed on this bourse.

ROS could not even be registered for trading on the UPCoM after being accused of making false capital increases. An HNX representative said they would consider Faros's re-trading application after authorities reached an official conclusion.

According to data announced by FLC subsidiaries at their 2023 AGMs, individual and institutional shareholders numbered more than a hundred thousand. Of which, FLC Group had up to 64,179 shareholders, FLC Stone 16,818, and HAI Agrochem 19,709.

Every shareholder at the AGMs wanted to know when the stocks would be traded again.

Disclosure problems

Senior FLC executives said at an extraordinary AGM held in February 2024 that trading of shares was suspended for failure to fulfill the obligation to disclose information on audited financial statements.

Up to now, FLC has not been able to release financial statements and audited financial statements for 2021, 2022 and 2023 and the first quarter of 2024 because the group and UHY Auditing & Consulting Company Limited have not reached a consensus on the audit of the separate and consolidated financial statements ending December 31, 2021.

An FLC representative said the group will work with the auditing agency to carry out additional procedures for releasing the 2021 audited financial statements, laying a basis for convening the 2022 AGM.

He said after successfully organizing this meeting, FLC will carry out the next work in accordance with the law to convene the 2023 AGM as soon as possible. Only then can the group complete the documents to trade FLC shares on the UPCoM exchange.

HAI Agrochem and FLC Stone have also signed audit contracts with UHY and expect to release their audited financial statements soon to resume trading their stocks.

BOS Securities JSC (ART) released their 2022 audited financial statements and annual reports as well as the half-yearly review report for 2023 at the end of last year. This year, the company has released its 2023 audited financial statements and organized the 2024 AGM on time.

Market manipulation

Quyet has been accused of stock market manipulation and fraudulently appropriating $157.6 mln.

According to investigators, from May 2017 to January 2022, he directed his younger sisters and accomplices to take the names of employees and relatives to make documents and carry out procedures to establish companies and open securities and bank accounts.

These people then carried out a series of market manipulation actions to increase the prices of five tickers – AMD, HAI, GAB, FLC and ART. Then Quyet directed that the shares be sold, earning illegal profits of more than VND723 billion ($28.49 million).

Previously, from 2014 to September 2016, Quyet had directed the leaders and employees of FLC Faros and other companies under FLC Group and relatives to act as shareholders to prepare and sign false capital contribution documents that increased on paper the charter capital of Faros from VND1.5 billion ($59,100) to VND4.3 trillion ($169.4 million).

Next, they submitted an application for Faros to become a public company and registered the listing of 430 million ROS shares based on the company’s false charter capital. After successfully listing the ticker, Quyet and his accomplices sold more than 391 million shares, appropriating more than VND3.6 trillion ($141.84 million) from investors.

The trial of Trinh Van Quyet and his accomplices at FLC Group JSC and related institutions will open on July 22, the Hanoi People’s Court has announced.

The prosecution has said it would present the case of 30,403 investors who bought ROS shares of FLC Faros Construction JSC in the first offering; as also that of more than 63,000 other investors holding the stocks.