She lost more money than anyone on Bloomberg's billionaires list since Covid. China's property crisis is to blame
The chair of real-estate giant Country Garden and one of China's richest women, Yang Huiyan, has lost more wealth than any billionaire in the world in the past two years, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
New York CNN
Bloomberg reported that Yang Huiyan is the chairwoman of China's largest real estate conglomerate Country Garden, and she is one of the richest Chinese women. Her building conglomerate, however, is on the verge of bankruptcy.
Bloomberg Billionaires Index shows that her net worth has dropped 84%, or $28,6 billion since June 2021.
Yang's net worth has dropped to $5.5 billion. This is the largest dollar drop among the richest people in the world over the last five years. She now ranks #475 in the Bloomberg ranking. According to Bloomberg, she lost $490 million just on Tuesday.
Reports said that Country Garden, China's once largest developer, had missed interest payments for two bonds denominated in US dollars. This has worried investors, as China's property market continues to sink. Hong Kong shares of the construction giant fell 16% as a result.
CNN has contacted Country Garden to get a comment.
Collapse in confidence
Paper.cn cited an anonymous source from the company to report that Country Garden was under 'temporary liquidation pressure' because of deteriorating sales, and a difficult refinancing climate. The person quoted said that Country Garden was "actively" seeking funds to resolve its debt crisis and would protect creditors' legitimate rights.
Country Garden has a grace period of 30 days before it is considered a defaulter.
China's real estate boom once accounted for 30% of its GDP. Many major developers have accumulated huge debts. The collapse of Evergrande two years ago was a good example.
Country Garden entered the Hong Kong public market with a $1.7 billion IPO, a world record. Yang Guoqiang succeeded Yang as chairman of the firm that her father founded in March this year.