Hanergy share price plunge dethrones Li Hejun as China's richest man

A near halving of value in the shares of Hanergy Thin Film Power has abruptly dethroned Li Hejun as the mainland's richest man, with his fortune shrinking by more than HK$100 billion yesterday.

Li, who controls the controversial Hong Kong-listed solar energy company, had been named atop the Hurun rich list in February following a sharp rise in the Hanergy share price.

Trading in the shares was suspended 70 minutes after the market opened yesterday. In that time they dived to HK$3.91 from Tuesday's close of HK$7.37 - a drop of 47 per cent, with the steepest falls in the last 25 minutes of trading. Some 175 million shares were traded in the 70 minutes, the highest daily volume since April 24.

With the price plunge, the value of Li's 31.25 billion Hanergy shares plummeted to HK$122.2 billion from HK$230.4 billion. His fortune, which also includes a major hydropower project in Yunnan, was estimated by Hurun at US$26 billion in February when Hanergy's share price was just half the level before yesterday's fall.

His wealth was estimated at the time to be marginally higher than that of property mogul Wang Jianlin, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, and third-placed Jack Ma Yun, chairman of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding.

Analysts have earlier called Hanergy Thin Film a stock bubble waiting to burst, due to its high valuation, heavy reliance on huge connected transactions with its parent for book-surging profits whose sustainability is highly questionable, and a dearth of its products used by independent third parties.

Media reports have long cast doubts on the sustainability of the firm's business model, with some suggesting its share trading was manipulated. These reports, however, did not halt the stock's meteoric rise.