Li Hejun, once China’s richest man, seeks to take troubled Hong Kong-listed Hanergy unit private
- Hanergy unit goes from darling of China’s investors to suspension to US$27 billion privatisation
- Hanergy Thin Film’s shares were suspended three years ago after plummeting by almost half in about an hour
Hanergy Mobile Energy Holding, whose chairman was briefly China’s richest man before falling foul of regulators, is offering HK$210.7 billion (US$26.9 billion) to privatise its Hong Kong listed arm, whose shares were suspended three years ago.
The proposed move, announced on the company’s website, could mark the closing of a chapter in the rags-to-riches story of 50-year-old Li Hejun, the renewable energy tycoon ranked by the Hurun Report as China’s wealthiest man in 2015 with US$26 billion to his name.
The Hong Kong-listed unit, Hanergy Thin Film Power Group, was once the darling of investors, its share price skyrocketing and handing Li riches beyond his wildest dreams.
But it all came crashing down – along with Li’s reputation – in 2015 when the stock lost almost half its value in a little over an hour and Li found himself under investigation for incompetence and negligence in his duties.
Hanergy Thin Film’s shares have been suspended ever since, with the last closing price giving the company a market value of US$21.1 billion.
Li and his companies own three quarters of the unit, which means most of the funds to be coughed up by the parent firm would end up in his own pocket, potentially helping to replenish some of the wealth he has lost.