Asia's Richest Woman Loses 29 Trillion Won in Wealth Over 2 Years

Yang Huiyan's Assets Shrink to $5.4 Billion
Country Garden's Stock Price Drops 84% in 1.5 Years
Lost Asia's Richest Woman Title Last Year
Country Garden Faces Default Risk Due to Interest Payment Failure

Yang Huiyan, co-chairwoman of Country Garden who was once known as the richest woman in Asia, has seen 80% of her estimated assets vanish due to the downturn in the Chinese real estate market. As a result, Yang has earned the dubious distinction of being the "world's billionaire who has lost the most wealth."

Co-Chairman Yang Huiyan of Country Garden
[Image Source=Baidu]

According to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index on the 10th, Yang's estimated assets were valued at $5.46 billion (approximately 7.1935 trillion KRW) as of that date. In 2021, her asset value was about $27.8 billion, which dropped to $11 billion last year and then fell again to $5.5 billion within a year. Over two years, $22.3 billion, or 80% of her wealth, evaporated. This is the largest asset decline among billionaires tracked by Bloomberg.

Yang's assets sharply declined due to the combined effects of China's tightened real estate regulations and the real estate market slump. At the beginning of last year, Country Garden's stock price was HKD 7.04 per share, but it has fallen 84% over a year and a half, now trading around the HKD 1 range. Yang inherited more than 70% of the company's shares from her father and co-founder Yang Guochang at the age of 24 in 2005, and most of her wealth is tied up in Country Garden's stock. Due to the steep asset decline, the title of Asia's richest woman has passed to Savitri Jindal, wife of the founder of India's steel and energy conglomerate Jindal Group.

Yang became China's youngest billionaire when Country Garden was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2007. After amassing enormous wealth, she acquired citizenship in Cyprus in the Mediterranean in 2020 to establish a wealth haven.

Currently, Country Garden is facing financial difficulties. After achieving contract sales of 550 billion yuan (approximately 104.5 trillion KRW) in 2017, it maintained a leading position in China's real estate industry. It was also regarded as having a solid financial structure and even took the top spot among Chinese real estate companies after Evergrande Group defaulted in 2021. However, as the Chinese government tightened regulations on developers to stabilize the real estate market, Country Garden also fell into financial distress. Moreover, due to COVID-19, the volume of completed projects decreased, preventing cash recovery and causing a significant drop in sales. As management became difficult, Country Garden failed to repay $22.5 million in interest on maturing corporate bonds, facing a default crisis.

The market is skeptical about Country Garden's chances of recovery. Last month, JP Morgan predicted that Country Garden's target stock price could fall to HKD 0.9 (about 148 KRW). The investment rating for Country Garden was also downgraded to underweight due to declining sales and default risks.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.