Vietnam’s “chaebols”: King of 'Acquisition' Tram Be As the big shareholders of both Southern Bank and Sacombank, the family of Mr. Tram Be is a "unique" case in the Vietnamese banking sector.   Tycoon Tram Be and his children. According to a report of the first six months of 2014 of the Southern Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Southern Bank), the family of Mr. Tram Be owned a total of 83.25 million shares, equivalent to VND832.5 billion. Though he has not held any key position at the bank since 2013, Tram Be continues to be the largest individual shareholder with 33.46 million shares, accounting for 8.36%. Tram Be’s daughter - Tram Thuyet Kieu – has 29.42 million shares (7.36%), and she is now the Deputy General Director of the bank. Tram Be’s son – Tram Trong Ngan - owns 17.68 million shares (4.42%), and currently holds the position of Vice Chair. Tram Be’s son-in-law - Le Trong Tri - also owns 2.69 million shares (0.67%) of Southern Bank. In total, Tram Be’s family has 20.81% of capital of the Southern Bank. However, the Tram Be family violated the rules on ownership rate under the provisions of the Credit Institutions Act 2010. Individual shareholders are not allowed to own more than 5%, and individual shareholders and their family members are not permitted to own more than 20% of the charter capital of a credit institution. Thus, Tram Be and his daughter Tram Thuyet Kieu broke the rule. In total, this family’s ownership rate at Southern Bank exceeded 0.81%. Moreover, the operation of this bank has not been good as its bad debt is on the rise, credit growth is low, etc. As reported by Southern Bank, its pre-tax profit in 2014 was only VND17.12 billion, only 4.76% of the plan completed. At the end of 2014, the bank’s charter capital was at VND4 trillion; total assets of VND82,068 billion, an increase of 5.82% rate; total mobilized capital reached VND76,636 billion, an increase of VND4,141 billion, up 5.71% over the beginning of the year; total outstanding loans of VND43,329 billion, an increase of VND32 billion, a growth of 0.08%. Notably, Southern Bank's NPLs (non performing loans) increased sharply last year, at VND2,553 billion, representing 5.89% of total loans, up by VND948 billion compared with 2013 (total bad loans sold to the Vietnam Assets Management Corporation were VND619 billion in 2014). "Capture" of Sacombank The Tram Be family not only owns the largest shares in Southern Bank but also is one of the largest shareholders at Sai Gon Thuong Tin Commercial JS Bank (Sacombank), one of the biggest banks in Vietnam. Vietnamese bankers must still remember Tram Be family’s acquisition of Sacombank, replacing Dang Van Thanh, the founder of the bank. According to Sacombank’s report in late 2014, Tram Be family held 6.78% of the bank’s shares, equivalent to 84.17 million shares. Tram Be alone had 0.15% or 1.84 million shares. His eldest son – Tran Trong Ngan - held more than 54.7 million shares (4.4%). His second son – Tran Khai Hoa – had 24 million shares, equivalent to 1.93% of charter capital. Be’s daughter – Tran Thuyet Kieu – also owned 0.3% of the charter capital in the bank. In addition to the high ownership rate of the Tram Be family, the hot story between Tram Be family and Sacombank now is the merger of this bank with Southern Bank, as people understand that Tram Be was the boss of both Southern Bank and Sacombank. The proposal for the merger of the two banks was protested by Sacombank shareholders but it was finally approved. This affair only waits for the "nod" from the State Bank of Vietnam. If Sacombank and Southern Bank are merged, Tram Be family’s ownership rate will drop because his family now holds nearly 21% stake in Southern Bank but only about 6.6% in Sacombank. Meanwhile, Sacombank's capital is over VND12,000 billion and that of Southern Bank is VND4,000 billion. However, in return, the fame and position of this family will be pushed to a new level. With wisdom and decisive steps, Tram Be is gradually showing the power of a financial tycoon. $1 = VND21,600 Tram Be, born in 1959, was a businessman who invested in the wood industry for some 10 years, and then in the real estate sector with BCCI (the Binh Chanh Investment and Construction Company), the Trieu An Hospital, in the seafood sector and agriculture (Son Son Company) and Long Toan port group. In the past, Be was known in the business circle as a big businessman. However, his name was not mentioned by local newspapers, partially because he was described as discreet and cautious, who did not like appearing before the public. Be has become really well known after the campaign of a group of investors taking over Sacombank which took place in 2012. However, even though having become more famous, the information about Be and his family members remain limited. Being the biggest shareholders of the two big banks in Vietnam, the tycoon has not been named in any lists of millionaires. Be was not named in the list of top 200 stock millionaires. With the capital contributed to many banks and companies, Be and his family members are obviously the big influential tycoons. However, it’s difficult to could their assets, because most of the companies do not list their shares on the bourse. NDT