Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao made her first million at 21 trading fax machines and latex rubber. Almost a quarter of a century later, she’s poised to become Southeast Asia’s first self-made woman billionaire known for putting bikini-clad models on her VietJet Aviation Joint Stock Co. planes and calendars.
With the initial public offering of Vietnam’s only privately-owned airline, Thao is set to have a net worth exceeding $1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, making her the country’s first woman billionaire. The majority of her wealth is derived from her stake in VietJet and her holdings in Dragon City, a 65-hectare real estate development in Ho Chi Minh City.
"I’ve never sat down and calculated my assets," Thao, 45, said in an interview. "I’m just focused on how to boost the company’s growth, how to increase the average salary for my employees, how to lead the airline to gain more market share and make it number one.”
Thao said she’s planning for VietJet to hold its IPO as early as within the next three months, where it may sell as much as a 30 percent stake. The carrier is aiming to seek a valuation of more than $1 billion, according to two people with knowledge of the plan, who asked not to be named because the information is private. Thao, who founded the airline, owns 95 percent of the company, according to two people familiar with the shareholding structure.
"She’s not like other wealthy people -- she’s quite quiet in Vietnam actually,” said Vo Phuc Nguyen, a Ho Chi Minh City-based analyst at CIMB Group Holdings Bhd. “She’s really successful with VietJet. From nothing, that airline now accounts for more than 30 percent of market share in Vietnam in just over the last few years."
The valuation it’s seeking in the IPO will make it more valuable than South Korea’s Asiana Airlines Inc. or Finnair Oyj. VietJet's revenue tripled to 10.9 trillion dong ($488 million) last year while net income rose to almost 1 trillion dong, according to the company.
Thao's budget airline flies to 47 locations in the country and across Asia, including Seoul, Bangkok and Singapore. She wants to make the company the "Emirates of Asia," modeling after the success of the Dubai-based carrier that’s the world’s biggest long-haul airline with flights to about 150 destinations.
Swamp Land
The billionaire also owns a 90 percent stake in Sovico Holdings, a closely-held company that has a 90 percent stake in Dragon City, according to the people, who asked not to be named because the information isn’t public. She bought the site more than a decade ago in what was a swampy area in Vietnam’s economic hub, and the valuation is calculated using the equity-to-debt ratio of the project’s $1 billion investment value.
Thao also has majority stakes in three resorts in Vietnam -- the Furama Resort Danang, the Evason Ana Mandara Nha Trang and the An Lam Ninh Van Bay Villas, the people said. The properties are valued using current income, and occupancy and prevailing capitalization rates from real estate consultant Cushman & Wakefield.