Hanoi - Vietnam's reported second-richest man was ordered to hand over stocks worth an estimated 64 million dollars to his ex-wife in the communist country's largest-ever divorce settlement, an official said Monday. Le Quang Tien requested this month that half of his 3.7 million shares in FPT Corp, a pioneering Vietnamese communications and internet giant, be transferred to the name of his ex-wife, Le Thi Hong Hai, according to an official at the stocks registry.
"He transferred the shares to her after the court ordered him to divide his properties with her after their divorce," said Phuong Hoang Lan Huong, director of the Stock Custody Centre of Vietnam's State Securites Commission.
Hai's half of the shares are worth an estimated 64 million dollars in last week's closing prices, he added.
Vietnam's infant stock market - which rose 144 per cent last year - has made overnight millionaires out of several executives at formerly state owned companies.
The rise of stock market millionaires in a country that didn't even have a securities exchange until 2000 has led to another new phenomenon: the 100-richest list.
Earlier this year, several Vietnamese newspapers printed lists of the country's wealthiest investors, based on their publicly disclosed stock holdings (though not including real estate magnates or other business leaders.
The list caused a minor outcry among some on the list, who complained they were exposed to kidnapping and extortion by being outed.
With his divorce dividing his holdings in half, Tien slipped to around fifth or sixth on the list - joined by his ex-wife.
Vietnam's richest stock-market millionaire remains Tien's boss, FPT chairman Truong Gia Binh, whose estimated holdings on the recent 100-richest list totaled 147 million dollars.
