Third Vietnamese dollar billionaire emerges  Tran Ba Duong, a big shareholder of Thaco, a manufacturer, the largest privately run conglomerate, could be on a par with Pham Nhat Vuong and Trinh Van Quyet, the richest billionaires, if Thaco shares are listed on the bourse.   Thaco share price has been increasing steadily in the OTC market. The price increased by another VND2,000 per share on January 17 after it rose twofold to VND150,000 per share in the last few months. Thaco’s charter capital is VND4.150 trillion, and 415 million shares in transactions. With the current price, its capitalization value is $2.8 billion. Tran Ba Duong, chair of Thaco’s Board of Management, and his wife hold more than 65 percent of the company’s shares. This means that Duong and his wife hold shares worth $1.8 billion. The figure could be even higher if Thaco shares are listed on the bourse and continue the price upwards like other shares such as Sabeco, Habeco, ACV, Vietnam Airlines and Faros. At present, there are two dollar billionaires in the stock market. One of them is Pham Nhat Vuong, who holds 720 million VIC shares worth VND30 trillion ($1.3 billion). The other is Trinh Van Quyet who holds 290 million ROS shares and 114 million FLC shares worth $1.6 billion, or VND36 trillion. Tran Ba Duong, a big shareholder of Thaco, a manufacturer, the largest privately run conglomerate, could be on a par with Pham Nhat Vuong and Trinh Van Quyet, the richest billionaires, if Thaco shares are listed on the bourse. Bui Thanh Nhon and his family members directly and indirectly hold more than 65 percent of stakes of Novaland, worth VND23.4 trillion, or over $1 billion, is also a potential dollar billionaire. As such, if Duong puts Thaco shares into transactions on the official bourse, he would become one of the Vietnamese richest stock billionaires, together with Vuong and Quyet. In fact, Thaco once registered to list Thaco shares at the HCMC Stock Exchange in 2010. However, the difficulties the enterprise met in the 2010-2012 period which lowered its profits, hindering the listing plan. Like many other billionaires, Duong also invests his money in agriculture, a sector with great advantages. However, unlike the other billionaires, Duong focuses on agricultural machines. The sharp increase in Thaco price has put Thaco’s shareholders in high spirits. VietinBank Securities, which bought 2 million Thaco shares in 2010 and believed it made a wrong investment decision as the profit decreased sharply in 2011-2012, is now happy as the share price has soared. However, Duong is not the biggest shareholder of Thaco. The company’s finance report showed that its biggest shareholder is Tran Oanh Production & Trade Ltd which holds 221 million shares, or 53.34 percent of Thaco’s chartered capital. Tran Oanh bought 32 million Thaco shares more in late 2016. Tran Oanh is the company in which Duong is a capital contributor, while his wife – Vien Dieu Hoa, is a member of the board of management and CEO. Le Vi, VNN