The driving force behind Baoneng’s assault on Vanke
Shenzhen tycoon Yao Zhenhua’s bid to take over China’s biggest housebuilder is his boldest, and arguably most aggressive, move yet
Until late last December, Baoneng Group was largely a little-known Guangdong business.
But since then, it has very quickly emerged from the corporate shadows, after launching an unsolicited bid to take control of China’s largest housebuilder, China Vanke, triggering what has now become one of the country’s most intriguing and dramatic takeover battles.
Baoneng is actually a burgeoning network of some 40 subsidiaries, covering real estate and logistics, microfinance, education, healthcare and most-crucially insurance.
And just as secret as the business itself, very little is know too of its equally low-profile chairman, Yao Zhenhua.
“Yao is super ambitious,” one person close to Baoneng, told a mainland financial newspaper, “and he wants to create a financial empire like Anbang Group.”
It might be a surprise to many to realise, but the 46-year-old Yao is already ranked 84 on Forbes China’s rich list, with a net worth of US$1.9 billion.
Yao is super ambitious and he wants to create a financial empire like Anbang Group