After 3 years of establishing subsidiaries with capital contributions in the form of land use rights in Da Phuoc Urban Area and selling stakes to third parties, DIC Corp announced termination of capital contribution plans and partial refund of deposits.

Recently, DIC Corp (Investment and Development Corporation), approved terminating capital contribution transactions and Thien Minh Company (Thien Minh) and Thien An Company (Thien An).

This came as somewhat of a surprise to investors as in late 2020, right after establishment and capital contribution, DIC Corp transferred ownership in Thien Minh and Thien An Companies to partners Thien Tan Investment Development Company and Tan Long Investment and Development Company.

Specifically, for Thien An Company with a charter capital of VND2,350 billion, DIC Corp contributed the entire land use rights of 31ha in phases 1, 2, 3 of Da Phuoc Eco-Urban Area (VND2,349 billion) and VND1 billion in cash from Mr. Lu Van Bang.

Right after establishment in November 2020, DIC Corp transferred all of its capital contribution in Thien An to Tan Long Company and received an advance deposit of VND2,231 billion, equivalent to 95% of Thien An's charter capital.

However, this deposit amount gradually decreased over the years, down to just nearly VND1,100 billion in 2021, VND230 billion in 2022 and before reaching 0 according to the 2023 interim financial statements audit.

By Q3 2023, DIC Corp recorded ownership proportion in Thien An again in its financial statements, implying the transaction with Tan Long had been canceled.

According to information found, Tan Long Company has many ties to Him Lam Group - a major shareholder of DIC Corp. Specifically, former Chairwoman of Tan Long Mrs. Nguyen Ngoc Thuy is also a senior executive at Him Lam Group. Additionally, the 10% shareholder of Tan Long - Mrs. Do Thi Cam Tu, also resides at the same address as Mr. Thuy.

The two individuals also own 17 million shares of Him Lam Land (now renamed Truong Son Land). Him Lam Land was also mentioned frequently in the recent period when it "cashed in" on DIG stock successfully, contributing to an extraordinary pre-tax profit of nearly VND2,400 billion in 2022.

Regarding the Thien Minh transaction, established on the same day as Thien An to jointly invest a land area of about 14.4ha in phase 7.1 of Da Phuoc Eco-Urban Area project with a charter capital of VND760 billion.

DIC Corp contributed over 99% of capital through nearly 56,000 sqm of trading land worth VND759 billion along with VND1 billion in cash also from Mr. Lu Van Bang.

Right after, DIC Corp's capital contribution in Thien Minh was transferred to Thien Tan Company - a company operating in the sports industry formerly chaired by Mrs. Le Thi Ha Thang, wife of Chairman Nguyen Thien Tuan.

According to the 2020 audit report, DIC Corp had a short-term receivable of VND59 billion from Thien Tan Company, which was explained as "residual receivable from transferring capital contribution in Thien Minh Company".

Right after regaining Thien Minh on December 1st, 2020, Thien Tan Company mortgaged the entire VND759 billion capital contribution in Sacombank, a bank chaired by Mr. Dương Công Minh, founder of Him Lam Group.

Notably, just a few days after transferring ownership of Thien An and Thien Minh companies and receiving large deposit amounts, on November 30th, 2020, DIC Corp disbursed over VND3,000 billion for joint investment with Thien Tan Company (nearly VND1,300 billion) and Duc Hoa III-Resco Investment Development JSC (VND1,729 billion).

By Q3 2023, the VND1,300 billion joint investment with Thien Tan was still recorded in the financial statements. While the joint investment with Duc Hoa III-Resco was no longer outstanding since late 2022.

With the recent decision to terminate capital contributions, the transfer of Thien Minh's capital contribution to Thien Tan company may not have been carried out and DIC will refund the amounts received in 2020. Over 3 years from late 2020 to late 2023, around VND3,000 billion was circulated between DIC Corp and subsidiary/partner companies that received equity transfers and companies related to the chairman.

This was also the period when DIG stock price increased 5-fold on the stock exchange with the presence of large shareholders Thien Tan and Him Lam Land. On December 2nd, 2020, Thien Tan spent over VND1,000 billion to additionally acquire over 47 million DIG shares, raising its ownership to over 18% and Him Lam Land acquired nearly 68 million DIG shares to own 21.49% of DIC Corp shares.

However, both Him Lam and Thien Tan are no longer major shareholders of DIC Corp after successively selling large amounts of shares when DIG stock was trading at peak levels in 2021-2022.