New | Dalian Wanda's success is from competence, not 'guanxi', says China's richest man Wang Jianlin
China's richest man responds to New York Times report alleging his relations with the powerful helped his company rise
Dalian Wanda chairman Wang Jianlin, the richest man in China, has denied his firm has political ties with people close to President Xi Jinping, attributing his business success to the company's competence.
In a speech at Harvard University on Thursday, Wang admitted Xi's elder sister, Qi Qiaoqiao and her husband Deng Jiagui, once invested in Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties. But he said they sold their stake before it went public in Hong Kong in December.
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"Two months before the listing, Deng sold all the shares held by his investment company and fully exited at a low price point," Wang said in his first response to a story in April that tied his success to relations with top leaders' families.
"After six years of investment, Deng sacrificed the opportunity to realise a huge return on investment. This shows President Xi is … scrupulous when it comes to family matters."
The reported that some of China's most powerful politicians and their associates were stakeholders in Wanda, which has grown from a small property firm in Dalian , Liaoning province, into the world's largest commercial real estate developer within two decades.
Wang said Deng, through his investment firm, did subscribe to a private placement initiated by Wanda in January 2000 at 13 yuan (HK$16) per share, the same price that other investors paid.
Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties' share price closed at HK$51.9 yesterday, up 1.4 per cent from a day earlier.
This shows President Xi is ... scrupulous when it comes to family matters
"Wanda has no political affiliation," Wang said. "We owe our rapid growth to our core competence of an innovative business model and effective management practices."
The tycoon also responded to doubts about whether he wanted to transfer his assets abroad as he had increased his overseas investments in recent years.
"Overseas investment is indeed a form of asset transfer. But … it's not a problem for us to use our own money to invest anywhere we like," he said.
Wang was ranked by magazine on Monday as China's richest man, with wealth of US$30 billion.
Wanda Group, Wang's multi-industry business empire, has been aggressively expanding into European and American property and entertainment markets in recent years.
