Tran Dinh Long, chairman of Vietnamese steelmaker Hoa Phat Group, has overtaken private conglomerate Vingroup chairman Pham Nhat Vuong to become the richest person on the stock market in Vietnam thanks to the continuous growth of the group’s HPG shares.

HPG extended its winning streak to the fourth straight session on Friday.

The stock closed the session up 2.2 percent to reach its highest price over the past one year, at VND25,400 (US$1.1).

As a result, Hoa Phat Group chairman Long, who currently holds over 1.5 billion HPG shares, saw his assets on the stock market amount to VND38.5 trillion ($1.6 billion).

Meanwhile, Vingroup’s VIC edged down 0.7 percent, sending Vuong’s assets falling to over VND35.9 trillion ($1.5 billion).

Earlier, Vuong had frequently topped the list of the richest people on the Vietnamese stock market.

However, Vuong has used his shares as his contributions to establish companies, leading to a fall in his assets on the stock market.

Most recently, he used over 49 million VIC shares to contribute capital to Green and Smart Mobility Joint Stock Company, a taxi company, in March this year.

Meanwhile, Long and his family have maintained their holdings at Hoa Phat and repeatedly registered to acquire more HPG shares.

Vu Thi Hien, Long's wife, owns 426.5 million HPG shares, or a 7.3-percent stake.

She is now among the 10 richest people on the local stock market.

Long’s son, Tran Vu Minh, holds 90.7 million HPG shares, or 1.5 percent.

HPG has experienced only two falling sessions since early this month and surged 40 percent over the beginning of the year.

Forbes first named Long a U.S. dollar billionaire in 2018 with assets totaling $1.3 billion.

He was later removed from Forbes’ list due to HPG’s losing streak.

He returned to the list with a total asset value of $2.2 billion in 2021.

The figure fell to $938 million in 2022 amid the hardship of the steel sector.

At Hoa Phat Group’s annual general shareholder meeting in March this year, Long said that the most difficult period of the steel sector had passed, pinning high hopes on the positive long-term prospects.

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