ASIA’S wealthiest woman has lost more than half her £20billion fortune in just six months as China’s economy continues to crash.
Yang Huiyan, a majority shareholder in Chinese property giant Country Garden, has taken a spectacular hit as the country’s real estate market tanks.
The businesswoman’s net worth has diminished by over 52 per cent to £9.3billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Her finances went from bad to worse on Wednesday when her Guangdong-based companies shares fell by 15 per cent.
The stock price plummeted after Country Garden, China‘s largest developer by sales, announced they were flogging shares at a discount to raise funds.
Yang inherited her exorbitant wealth in 2005 when her father – the firm’s founder Yang Guoqiang – transferred his shares to her, according to state media.
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The 40-year-old earned the title of Asia’s richest woman two years later after the developer’s initial public offering in Hong Kong.
But she is now desperately clinging to her crown – with chemical fibres tycoon Fan Hongwei hot on her heels, boasting a net worth of £9.2 billion as of Thursday.
Property moguls have been rocked by the escalating mortgage crisis in China, after authorities launched a crackdown on excessive debt in the sector in 2020.
Furious house hunters left frustrated by lagging construction and delays have started withholding mortgage payments for properties sold before completion.
Falling house prices and decreasing demand have also helped form the perfect storm for serious economical trouble.
Heavy hitters such as real estate groups Evergrande and Sunac are drowning in debt, forcing them to renegotiate with creditors.
The cash-strapped companies are now feverishly trying to dig their way out while teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.
But Country Garden has managed to persevere throughout the crisis, leaving their unfinished projects largely unaffected.
Yet Yang’s move to raise £283million through a share sale – partly to pay debts – is said to have spooked investors.
In a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange, the firm said the cashflow would be used for “refinancing existing offshore indebtedness, general working capital and future development purposes.”
China’s banking regulator has urged lenders to support the property sector and meet the “reasonable financing needs” of firms.
Analysts and policymakers have already raised fears of financial contagion, which could cripple the world’s second-largest economy.
They fear the industry is stuck in a “vicious cycle” that will discourage consumer confidence, following the dismal Q2 growth figures.
The quarterly stats were the worst the country has seen since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
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The country relies on the property sector to produce around 18-30 per cent of its GDP, meaning it is instrumental in prompting growth.
But a report from S&P Global Ratings estimated property sales across the nation could drop by a third this year due to consumer concern.
