Country Garden founder Yeung Kwok-keung shows up in public as China’s developers perceive heightened Beijing scrutiny

Yeung visited a residential and commercial complex in Guangdong to urge workers there to ensure construction quality, the developer says

His appearance follows the September 28 ‘arrest’ of Hui Ka-yan, founder and chairman of China Evergrande Group, for unspecified crimes

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Yang Guoqiang (centre, in black), co-founder of embattled Chinese developer Country Garden, visits a construction site in Guangdong on October 11, 2023. Photo: Handout

Published: 5:15pm, 13 Oct 2023Updated: 6:51pm, 13 Oct 2023

The co-founder of Country Garden Holdings has inspected a construction site in Guangdong, as the sector’s embattled companies and their billionaire bosses strive to show their dedication to delivering housing and clearing debts amid what is seen as heightened government scrutiny.

Yeung Kwok-keung, known in mainland China as Yang Guoqiang, 69, urged workers to ensure construction quality as he visited a residential and commercial complex on Nanping Road in Guangdong’s Shunde city on Wednesday, the developer said in a statement on its WeChat account on Friday.

The visit comes amid a media report the company’s founding family had provided an interest free loan and was also in the process of raising cash via asset sales.

The Yeung family had offered Country Garden an interest-free loan of US$300 million to underpin the cash-starving developer, Shanghai-based state media outlet The Paper reported on Friday, citing unidentified company officials.

The family was also selling its private jets to raise cash for bankrolling Country Garden, the news portal added, saying the information was revealed by president Mo Bin during a meeting of senior managers.

Yeung, who had little formal education and reportedly did not own his first pair of shoes until he was 17, established the company in 1992. His latest public appearance follows the September 28 “arrest” of Hui Ka-yan, founder and chairman of distressed developer China Evergrande Group, for unspecified crimes.