White knight Kennedy Wong Ying-ho, a seasoned rescuer of embattled listed companies, certainly has the Midas touch.
Since 2008 when he bought 3D-Gold - the nearly bankrupt jewellery retailer famed for creating a golden toilet - at a deep discount, the value of the company's gold inventory has surged more than 200 per cent.
'It was a very tough call when we decided to buy the company from the liquidator,' said Wong, chairman of Hong Kong Resources Holdings and 3D-Gold, recalling that Lehman Brothers had just collapsed and the financial world was in turmoil.
The credit crunch meant the banks were turning their backs on any possible deals. Wong's father also discouraged him from getting involved in the troubled company, whose former chairman had died and whose senior management was under investigation by the police regarding the whereabouts of missing gold inventory.
Two months after 3D-Gold went into receivership in October 2008, Wong and partner Liu Wangzhi offered HK$560 million for the troubled business, which had a gold inventory valued at HK$400 million.
The valuation was at a 48 per cent discount to the book value since the gold and jewellery were scattered in 200 different points of sale all over the mainland, making it a huge job to verify the true value.
