Jardine-linked Thaco joins race for Vietnam’s US$67 billion bullet train project

[HO CHI MINH CITY] The battle to build Vietnam’s largest bullet train project is heating up as Truong Hai Group (Thaco) – a sprawling Vietnamese industrial conglomerate backed by Singapore-listed Jardine Cycle & Carriage – throws its hat into the ring for the US$67 billion North-South High-Speed Railway.

Thaco’s proposal would pit it against another heavyweight contender, VinSpeed – part of the Vingroup empire – which is also vying to build the mammoth, decade-long transnational railway project connecting Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Thaco, founded by auto tycoon Tran Ba Duong, is 26.6 per cent owned by Jardine Cycle & Carriage, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Jardine Matheson. In Vietnam, Jardine has steadily expanded its footprint not only through its stake in Thaco, but also via investments in the dairy producer Vinamilk and the infrastructure and utilities firm REE Corp.