Strategic investor La My Phuong increases VNECO electricty company ownership

La My Phuong has purchased 4.3 million VNE shares of the Vietnam Electricity Construction Joint Stock Corporation (VNECO), increasing her ownership to 9.5 million shares or 11.63% of the firm’s charter capital.

The purchase, whose value has not been disclosed, was made on October 23 from Thai investor Smit Cheancharadpong who announced that he had sold the exact amount of shares the same day and that he was no longer a VNECO shareholder.

The October 23 session saw block trades of 4.32 million VNE shares with a total value of VND32.2 billion ($1.31 million).

The VNE stock had fallen for 13 consecutive sessions, from VND11,600 ($0.47) a share to VND6,040 ($0.25) on October 26. In seven of these sessions, the shares hit their floor prices, prompting two company executives to sell their equity in it due to margin calls.

On October 25, Nguyen Anh Tuan, chairman of the company’s board of directors, was forced to sell 1.4 million shares following up on 33,000 shares the previous day. As a result, Tuan's shareholding decreased from 3.8 million (4.69%) to 2.4 million shares (2.94%).

Tuan also registered to sell an additional 409,010 shares from October 30 to November 27 to restructure his investment portfolio. If the transaction goes through, his ownership will be reduced to 2 million shares, or 2.44% of the firm’s charter capital.

Furthermore, Malblue Joint Stock Company - a company with which Tuan is linked, has been trading millions of VNE shares, also as part of its portfolio reshuffle.

Malblue sold 4.6 million VNE shares between September 13 and October 3. It has registered to sell an additional 3.6 million VNE shares from October 12 to November 9. If the transactions go through, Malblue would reduce its ownership from 11.1 million shares to 2.9 million, down 12.28% to 3.2% of VNECO’s charter capital.

On October 17, Tran Quang Can, vice board chairman, had 391,500 VNE shares sold by a securities company. Can now owns 6.7 million shares or 8.19% of VNECO.

In other VNE selloffs, Tran Van Huy, deputy general director of the company, sold 100,000 shares between September 19 and October 13. Huy now owns just 4,500 VNE shares.

Thus, a significant number of VNE shares have been sold by major shareholders and insiders to unidentified new owners.

VNECO operates in engineering, construction, equipment supply, technology transfer, electricity projects, electric power systems, industry and infrastructure.

The company said its H1/2023 revenue fell 64% year-on-year to VND475 billion ($19.32 million).

Its revenue from electrical construction activities decreased by 79% and from sales and services by 30%. As a result, its net profit in H1 fell 50% year-on-year to VND3.2 billion ($130,190).

Major shareholder strategy

La My Phuong is CEO of 4 Oranges Co., Ltd., one of Southeast Asia's biggest paint manufacturers and a prominent decorative paint company in the Vietnamese market. It is well known for its paint brands like MYKOLOR, OEXPO, EXPO, SONBOSS and SPEC.

4 Oranges Co., Ltd is a foreign-invested company, entering the Vietnamese market in 2004 with a manufacturing plant in the Duc Hoa 1 Industrial Zone in the Mekong Delta province of Long An.

Smit Cheancharadpong, who transferred 4.3 million VNE shares to Phuong, is the chairman of the company.

On October 12, Phuong became a major shareholder of garment exporter DHA (listed on the HCM Stock Exchange as DHA), spending about VND44 billion ($1.79 million) to purchase 691,100 shares and increasing her ownership to 9.38% of the charter capital.

DHA has a relatively small registered capital of VND150 billion ($6.1 million) but its shares are valued at over VND40,000 ($1.63) each on the market.

Phuong became a famous stock investor in the 2020-2021 period by adopting a strategy of making purchases that made her a major shareholder of several firms including BOS Securities (ART), MCG Energy and Real Estate JSC (UPCoM: MCG), SBS Securities (UPCoM: SBS), and Vietnam Financial Investment Securities Corporation (listed on the Hanoi Stock Exchange as VIG).