Asia's richest woman loses more than half of her $23.7BILLION fortune
Asia’s richest woman loses more than half of her $23.7BILLION fortune as China’s real estate sector crashes
- Asia’s wealthiest woman lost more than half her fortune over the past year
- Yang Huiyan, 41, saw her net worth plunge by from $23.7billion to $11.3billion
- She is a majority shareholder in Chinese property giant Country Garden
Asia’s wealthiest woman lost more than half her fortune over the past year after China’s real estate sector was rocked by a cash crunch.
Yang Huiyan, 41, a majority shareholder and vice-chairwoman of Chinese property giant Country Garden, saw her net worth plunge by more than 52 per cent from $23.7billion to $11.3billion in the past year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Yang’s fortune took another major hit on Wednesday when Country Garden’s Hong Kong-listed shares fell 15 percent after the company announced it would sell new shares to raise capital.
Yang Huiyan, 41, a majority shareholder vice-chairwoman of Chinese property giant Country Garden became a billionaire at the age of just 26
Mrs Huiyan saw her net worth plunge by more than 52 per cent from $23.7billion to $11.3billion in the past year
The property sector is estimated to account for 18 to 30 percent of the country’s GDP and is a key driver of growth in the world’s second-largest economy.
The crash started when Chinese authorities cracked down on excessive debt in the property sector in 2020, leaving major players such as Evergrande and Sunac struggling to make payments and forcing them to negotiate with creditors as they teetered on the edge of bankruptcy.
Buyers across the country, furious at lagging construction and delayed deliveries of their properties, have begun withholding mortgage payments for homes sold before completion.
While Country Garden has remained relatively unscathed by industry turmoil, it spooked investors with a Wednesday announcement that it planned to raise more than $343million through a share sale, partly to pay debts.
Proceeds from the sale would be used for ‘refinancing existing offshore indebtedness, general working capital and future development purposes,’ Country Garden said in a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Yang inherited shares of the billion-dollar company from her father Yang Guoqiang.
Initially a rice and dairy farmer and labourer, he set up property development company Country Garden in Guangdong, south China, in 1992.
Guoqiang grew it into one of the largest property development companies in China.
He transferred his shares to her in 2005 and she became Asia’s richest woman two years later aged just 26 after the developer’s initial public offering in Hong Kong gifted her with around $16billion.
Initially a rice and dairy farmer and labourer, her father Yang Guoqiang set up property development company Country Garden in Guangdong, south China, in 1992
As China’s property industry continues to flounder, the country’s banking regulator has urged lenders to support the property sector and meet the ‘reasonable financing needs’ of firms as analysts and policymakers fear financial contagion. Pictured: Country Garden properties
By 2020 she was worth more than $20billion but she is barely holding onto her title of Asia’s richest woman after China’s property crash cut her wealth in two.
Chemical fibres tycoon Fan Hongwei has become a close runner-up with a net worth of $11.2billion as of Thursday.
As China’s property industry continues to flounder, the country’s banking regulator has urged lenders to support the property sector and meet the ‘reasonable financing needs’ of firms as analysts and policymakers fear financial contagion.
Analysts have warned that the industry is mired in a ‘vicious cycle’ that would further dampen consumer confidence, following the release of dismal Q2 growth figures that were the worst since the start of the pandemic.
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