Imagine going from being the second richest man in Asia to losing a whopping 90% of your fortune. Such is the fate of Hui Ka Yan, the Chairman of real estate developer China Evergrande, whose wealth has plunged nearly 93%, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Hui ka yan has seen his net worth plunge from $42 billion at its peak in 2017 to $3 billion as of the time of this report.
Before the plunge, China Evergrande was one of the biggest real estate developers in China and is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
It has about 200,000 employees, raked in more than $110 billion in sales in 2020 and owned more than 1,300 developments in more than 280 cities.
Who is Hui ka Yan? Hui ka Yan is a Chinese billionaire businessman, former Chairman of the board and Communist Party secretary of the Evergrande Group, a Chinese real estate developer.
- Hui is the largest shareholder of China Evergrande Group, holding nearly 60 per cent of the stock as of December 2021. In 2017, Evergrande Real Estate Group achieved sales of RMB 450 billion (US $69.5 billion).
- The Guangzhou-based company was China’s biggest property developer in 2016, based on sales volume; revenue was 211.4 billion yuan (US$31.8 billion).
- After high school, Hui worked in a cement production factory for a few days and then worked for two years at home.
- After resuming the college entrance examination in 1978, Xu was accepted to the Wuhan Institute of Iron and Steel (now Wuhan University of Science and Technology).
- Hui worked as a technician in a steel factory for 10 years after graduating from college in 1982. He started Evergrande in Guangzhou in 1996 and began picking up low-price properties in small markets. Its first project was called the Jinbi Garden.
- China Evergrande blossomed over the years to become the biggest property developer in the country with Hui ka yan’s wealth hitting a peak of $42bn in 2017.
Cause of Yan’s troubles: China Evergrande is the most indebted developer in the world and has been trying to scramble for cash to pay back its $300 billion in liabilities.
Hui ka yan has tried to stem the tide with his wealth, selling over 7 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) worth of personal assets to “prop up his embattled company” yet the company defaulted on its US dollar bond.
He has since been shunned politically as a former member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a group formed by government officials and the biggest business tycoons. He was asked not to attend the yearly convention following the plunge of his wealth.
The Fall: Hui ka yan is the next multi-billionaire to lose a heavy chunk of his net worth after Elon Musk. The Chinese property magnate has witnessed his wealth plunge from $42bn at its peak to just $3bn.
China Evergrande’s revenue growth sharply dropped from 59 per cent (2016), 47 per cent (2017) and 49 per cent (2018) to 2 per cent and 6 per cent in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
The company has now suspended trading its shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The company’s stocks have lost 95 per cent of their value compared to their record high of HK$31.55 in October 2017.
What To Know: Hui ka Yan has joined the ranks with the likes of Elon Musk who recently set a Guinness world record for being the person to ever lose the most wealth.
Elon Musk has lost an estimated $182bn since November 2021
The Chinese property market was severely disrupted by President Xi Jing Ping’s “Common prosperity” policy aimed at redistributing wealth in the country.
Was it November 2021 or 2022?