Wahaha head again richest man in China

By Chen Yang Source:Global Times Published: 2012-10-13 0:55:03

Zong Qinghou, chairman of Wahaha Group, a leading beverage producer in China, can once again claim to be China's richest man, but slower economic growth took a toll on many Chinese billionaires, according to a list published by Forbes magazine Friday.

Zong, who topped the magazine's annual ranking of China's 400 richest in 2010 before slumping to No.5 last year, returns to the No.1 position with a personal wealth of 63 billion yuan ($10 billion) this year, up 52 percent from last year.

"Zong's expanded wealth lies in the better business performance of Wahaha, in which he owns an 80 percent stake," Russell Flannery, Shanghai bureau chief of Forbes magazine, told the Global Times Friday.

In a similar list published by Hurun Report in September, Zong was also listed as China's richest man, but with a bigger fortune of 80 billion yuan.

Shan Qining, a spokesman for Wahaha, declined to comment on the accuracy of the two lists when contacted by the Global Times Friday.

"Wahaha is not a public company, so Zong's wealth is less affected by turbulence in the stock market as other businessmen," Li Jianming, deputy director at the China Enterprise Confederation, said Friday.

Zong's dauphin is Li Yanhong, chairman of search engine company Baidu Inc, with a personal wealth of 51 billion yuan, down 13 percent from a year ago, mainly due to a slide in his NASDAQ-listed company's stock price.

Wang Jianlin, chairman of property developer Wanda Group, jumped into third place this year from his previous 15th spot. His fortune grew fastest among the top 400 by nearly doubling in the past year to 50.4 billion yuan.

"Wanda focuses on the development of commercial real estate, so it performs much better than those that concentrate on residential property," Li Jianming said.  The list shows half of the top 10 richest in China are property magnates, while among the top 400, nearly 30 percent hail from the real estate sector.

"Government curbs on the real estate sector have a big effect on small companies, while larger ones are less affected as they have a diversified portfolio and projects across the country," Flannery said.

Liang Wengen, last year's winner and chairman of Sany Group, fell to sixth place in the latest list, as demand for construction equipment has been dragged down by a slowdown in China's economy, according to Forbes.

Some former billionaires who are engaged in solar manufacturing sectors such as Shi Zhengrong, chairman of Suntech Power and Ni Kailu, president of Shanghai Chaori Solar, fell out of the ranking completely. Chinese solar product manufacturers, which have been incresingly squeezed by weakening demand and falling prices, are facing further challenges from heavy tariffs imposed by the US and possibly the EU.

Slower economic growth took a toll on Chinese billionaires, with the total wealth held by the country's top 100 richest people falling 7 percent year-on-year to $220 billion in 2012, according to Forbes.

"The shrinking wealth of Chinese billionaires this year is largely due to the sluggish stock market, which has squeezed their fortunes," Flannery said. "But the 7 percent decrease still beats the 20 percent drop in the main index of the Shanghai Stock Exchange since the list was last published in 2011."

 Despite the country's economic slowdown, some entrepreneurs have still found out growth opportunities and made gains in sectors such as electronics and interior decoration, Flannery noted.

For instance, Pan Zhengmin, co-founder of Apple supplier AAC Technologies, returns to this year's top 100 richest, ranking 35th with a net worth of 13.2 billion yuan.

However, Li Jianming said the Forbes and Hurun lists did not fully reflect the situation of the richest people in China.

"The lists are both compiled based on public information, but there are many low-profile billionaires across the country, whose fortune information has not been released to the public," he said.



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