International banker and French businessman Alain Cany has become the new chairman of the board of directors at Vietnamese private multi-business REE, which focuses on construction and engineering, replacing the company’s founder Nguyen Thi Mai Thanh who vacates the chair to become the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange-listed firm’s CEO, replacing Le Nguyen Minh Quang.

Cany, who used to serve as chairman and CEO at HSBC Bank Vietnam, joined REE’s board in 2021 via a nomination from Singapore-based fund Platinum Victory – a company under Jardine Cycle & Carriage (JC&C), an investment arm of Hong Kong-based Jardine Matheson Group.

JC&C is a leading Singapore-listed company, 75% owned by the Jardine Matheson Group. The firm’s investment portfolio includes major companies across Southeast Asia. At present, Cany serves as investment adviser to Jardine Matheson Vietnam. In Vietnam, JC&C has been investing in major corporations, such as Thaco Group and REE.

Cany has extensive experience in finance, banking and capital investment, having worked for a long time at Credit Commercial de France, HSBC Hong Kong and HSBC Vietnam. He used to be chairman at EuroCham Vietnam, a group of European companies in Vietnam, and co-chairman of the Vietnam Business Forum, where he represented foreign enterprises.

As for Le Nguyen Minh Quang, he held the CEO position for just over four months. Before joining REE, he served as CEO at Bachy Soletanche Vietnam, a subsidiary of French foundations and soil technology company Bachy Soletanche, and as head of the Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway Management Board.

REE founder Thanh had held both the board chair and CEO positions from 1993 until 2020, when Vietnam authorities ruled that the chair and the CEO at a listed company must be two different people, obliging her to vacate the CEO post. Now, as she becomes CEO again, the chairing of the REE board will fall to Cany.