IN 1990, a 32-year-old Chinese registered a company named Hua Chen in Bermuda that two years later became the first mainland firm to list on an overseas stock market. Last year, the man was named by Forbes magazine as the third-richest in China, with assets of seven billion yuan (about HK$6.55 billion).
But now the rags-to-riches story of Yang Rong may be unravelling. Last Wednesday, Brilliance China Automotive Holdings, the listed company of which he has been chairman since it was set up in 1992, announced he was no longer chairman, although he remained a director.
Over the weekend, official newspapers reported that Mr Yang had been banned from leaving the country and was under investigation.
Suo Ruan, a Brilliance China spokeswoman, said although Mr Yang had stepped down as chairman, he remained a director. 'It was an internal reorganisation. He remains chairman of Shanghai Shenhua, a company that is listed on the domestic market.'
She did not know whether Mr Yang was under investigation or barred from leaving China. 'I do not know where he is.'
If Mr Yang is in trouble, it is because of what everyone calls 'the labyrinth' of Brilliance - the complicated ownership structure of the company and uncertainty over who owns it.