China's richest man loses US $15 billion in 30 minutes
May 22, 2015
Li Hejun, the wealthiest man in China until this week, saw his fortune by as much as $15 billion in a half-hour as the stock in his company, Hanergy Thin Film Power Group, fell by nearly half.
Li Hejun, the wealthiest man in China until this week, saw his fortune drop by as much as $15 billion in a half-hour as the stock in his company, Hanergy Thin Film Power Group, fell by nearly half.
Shares in the company were pummelled in trade, falling 47% to HK$3.91 before being suspended on Wednesday. Its shares closed at HK$7.37.
Hanergy Thin Solar stock had soared more than sixfold in the past year, according to Bloomberg News, making it the world's largest solar power company by market value, but prompting questions over its valuation and revenue sources.
"Even (after) dropping by 40 percent, the share price is still too high," said Hong Kong-based analyst Castor Pang, head of research at Core Pacific-Yamaichi International.
"They are a manufacturing company, it's not a high-tech stock. The price is much higher than an average industrial stock."
Pang said it was difficult to read why the shares had been suspended, but the price adjustment had been "pending for a long time".
A report by the London-based Financial Times in January said the Hanergy Group made its fortune largely through unconventional sales between HTF, its listed subsidiary, and itself.
Hanergy founder and chairman, Chinese tycoon Li Hejun, did not attend HTF's annual meeting in Hong Kong Wednesday.
Li was named as China's richest man in February in a wealth survey, replacing e-commerce giant Alibaba's founder Jack Ma.
He saw his wealth nearly triple compared to a year before, according to the Hurun Report's Global Rich List 2015 which valued his fortune at $26 billion.
Prior to Wednesday's plunge, Hanergy Thin Film's market value had at one point topped HK$300 billion, Bloomberg said, but the fall in the share price would shave off HK$144.3 billion.
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