Imagine going from being the second richest man in Asia to losing a whopping 90% of your fortune. That is the fate of Hui Ka Yan, the chairman of real estate developer China Evergrande, whose wealth has plummeted nearly 93%, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Hui ka yan has seen his net worth drop from $42 billion at its peak in 2017 to $3 billion at the time of this reporting.
Before the crash, China Evergrande was one of China’s largest property developers and is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
It has about 200,000 employees, grossed more than $110 billion in sales in 2020, and owns 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 Secretary of the Communist Party of Evergrande Group, a Chinese real estate developer.
- Hui is the largest shareholder of China Evergrande Group, holding nearly 60% of the shares 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 the largest property developer in China in 2016, based on sales volume; revenue was 211.4 billion yuan (31.8 billion US dollars).
- After high school, Hui worked at 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 into the Wuhan Institute of Iron and Steel (now Wuhan University of Science and Technology).
- Hui worked as a technician at a steel mill for 10 years after graduating from university in 1982. He started Evergrande in Guangzhou in 1996 and began buying low-priced properties in small markets. His first project was called Jinbi Garden.
- China Evergrande blossomed over the years to become the country’s biggest real estate developer, with Hui ka yan’s wealth peaking at $42 billion in 2017.
Cause of Yan’s problems: China Evergrande is the world’s most indebted developer and has been trying to raise cash to pay off its $300 billion in liabilities.
Hui ka yan has tried to stem the tide with his wealth, selling more than 7 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) in personal assets to “support his troubled company,” but the company defaulted on his bonus in American dollars.
He has since been politically shunned as a former member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a group made up of government officials and top business magnates. He was asked not to attend the annual convention after his wealth plummeted.
The fall: Hui ka yan is the next billionaire to lose a large chunk of his net worth after Elon Musk. The Chinese real estate mogul has seen his wealth plummet from $42 billion at its peak to just $3 billion.
China Evergrande’s revenue growth dropped dramatically from 59% (2016), 47% (2017) and 49% (2018) to 2% and 6% in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
The company has now suspended listing of its shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The company’s shares have lost 95 percent 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 of the likes of Elon Musk, who recently set a Guinness World Record for losing the most wealth.
Elon Musk has lost an estimated $182 billion since November 2021
The Chinese real estate market was severely affected by President Xi Jing Ping’s “common prosperity” policy, which aimed to redistribute wealth in the country.
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