Renewable energy developer Tin Thanh Group defies logic with billion-dollar projects in Vietnam, US

Tin Thanh Group, a pioneer in renewable energy in Vietnam, has disclosed that it is engaging in projects worth billions of U.S. dollars in both Vietnam and the U.S. despite its charter capital of only VND432 billion ($17.7 million).

Billion-dollar projects

On September 25, Tin Thanh Group announced that it had signed an agreement for a $6.4 billion loan from Australia’s Acuity Funding for the former’s investments in Vietnam and the U.S.

Under the deal, Acuity Funding will provide credit of $1 billion for the construction of four biomass power plants and thousands of hectares for broomcorn cultivation in the southern and central regions of Vietnam.

Another $1.7 billion will finance the construction of a tire recycling and truck service factory in South Carolina, the U.S., in order to serve one million trucks, in line with the goals of reducing emissions, cutting costs and transitioning to green energy.

For this project, Tin Thanh Group has already received land and support from South Carolina worth over $500 million.

Another tranche, $3.7 billion, will be used to build a green hydrogen facility in South Carolina, per a project signed in June between Tin Thanh Group and the U.S.-based Air Products Corporation.

The American corporation will provide oxygen production technology to put in boilers, industrial furnaces and nitrogen production to reduce fuel moisture for boilers and industrial furnaces used to supply steam to industrial plants and power plants throughout Vietnam. These products are expected to bring a big change to the auto industry and especially outdated, polluting coal-fired power plants.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Tran Dinh Quyen, chairman of Tin Thanh Group, said the above projects have been approved and supported by Vietnamese and U.S. authorities with registered patents. He emphasized that the models and technologies of the projects are highly practical and can be applied on a global scale.

Observers say that as the world is facing climate change, environmental pollution, and resource depletion, the projects and ideas of Tin Thanh Group’s owner all follow the trend of the times. However, these are all large-scale investment projects, so whether the group is capable of implementing them is a big question.

Tin Thanh Group JSC was established on September 3, 2009, and is headquartered in Tan Binh district, Ho Chi Minh City. It has a charter capital of VND432 billion ($17.7 million), a figure that is too modest compared to the total investment worth billions of U.S dollars for the above projects.

Chairman Tran Dinh Quyen is a founding shareholder with a 42.8% stake. The other two founding shareholders are Nguyen Thanh Hien and Nguyen Bich Hoai.

Tin Thanh Group captured attention when announcing billion-dollar clean energy projects without financial information. The enterprise is not a listed company, so it is not required to disclose information.

In 2020, the group planned to mobilize VND100 billion ($4.1 million) in bonds to invest in steam power projects with Da Nang Rubber JSC. At that time, it had just revealed some information. The group suffered a loss of VND7.8 billion ($320,000) in 2018, and made a humble profit of VND92 million ($3,800) in 2019. Its accumulated losses as of 2019 were at VND20 billion ($820,200).

In 2020, thanks to restructuring the supply of industrial steam and biomass materials for power plants as well as improving cost control efficiency, it enjoyed a profit of VND15 billion ($615,130), a sharp increase compared to 2018-2019.

Tin Thanh also planned to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) and register shares for trading on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) in 2020. However, the group paused the plan to focus on developing renewable energy, waste treatment and closed agriculture projects.

Shocking announcements

The announcement of its engagement in billion-dollar projects in Vietnam and the U.S. has shocked the public, and this is not the first time the owner of Tin Thanh Group has revealed such surprising information. In 2017, when Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited, registered on the UPCoM as BSR, conducted its IPO, Tin Thanh visited and explored cooperation and investment opportunities.

At that time, a BSR representative said that Tin Thanh Group intended to buy 5% of BSR’s capital (about VND2 trillion or $82 million). Within 12 months of the IPO, the group proposed that BSR submit to the Prime Minister a plan to become a strategic shareholder to purchase up to 55% of BSR shares.

At the time of the IPO, BSR was valued at $3.2 billion. To buy a 55% stake, Tin Thanh Group had to spend nearly $1.8 billion, a huge number compared to its then charter capital of only VND200 billion ($8.2 million).

Also in 2017, Tin Thanh delivered other shocking news, saying it had acquired Oakwood State Bank in Texas - one of the oldest banks in the U.S. with a history of 116 years - and changed its name to Tin Thanh Oakwood Bank Corp.

However, Oakwood State Bank's regulator warned this was false information. Then the Minnesota Department of Commerce issued a fine of $35,000 to a business under Tin Thanh Group for violating regulations on illegally using the word "bank" in its name.

Responding to the press, Quyen explained that Tin Thanh acted as an intermediary for an U.S investor to buy stake in BSR. However, during the negotiation process, there were problems related to legal procedures, so the American investor could not strike the deal.

Meanwhile, the delivery of information about acquiring an American bank was a mistake, he said, adding his group planned to acquire 95% of the bank’s capital but then gave up because he felt it was not appropriate.