Country Garden majority owner triples fortune to US$20.7b

PETALING JAYA (Nov 16): Yang Huiyan, the majority owner of Chinese property developer Country Garden Holdings Co Ltd, saw her fortune triple to US$20.7 billion (RM86.5 billion) this year, vaulting to sixth place from 15th place last year in the Forbes China Rich List 2017.

“The company has been the market leader in China’s third- and fourth-tier cities, and is launching its first long-term rental housing project within the year,” said Forbes.

The developer’s biggest project in Malaysia is the RM444 billion-Country Garden Forest City, which covers 14 sq km of land.

There is speculation that the 350km high-speed rail will include a stop at the mixed-use development at the edge of Johor.

Forest City’s other projects in Malaysia include Central Park and Danga Bay in Johor, and Diamond City in Selangor.

Property players and technology titans had a strong showing in the top 10 of this year’s Forbes China Rich List.

The others in the top 10 are China Evergrande Group chairman Hui Ka Yan (No. 1; US$42.5 billion); Tencent Holdings Ltd founder, president CEO and director Ma Huateng (No. 2; US$39 billion); Alibaba Group founder and executive chairman Jack Ma (No. 3; US$38.6 billion); Dalian Wanda chairman Wang Jianlin (No. 4, US$25.2 billion); SF Express chairman Wang Wei (No. 5; US$22.3 billion); Midea Group co-founder He Xiangjian (No. 7; US$18.7 billion); Baidu CEO Robin Li (No. 8; US$17.1 billion); Netease founder and CEO William Ding (No. 9; US$16.9 billion); and Li Shufu who chairs Geely Group and owns Volvo (No. 10; US$16.5 billion).

Geely had acquired a 49.9% stake in national car manufacturer Proton and a 51% stake in luxury car marque Lotus for RM1 billion in June this year.