The rich are getting richer in China, according to the most recent Hurun Rich List. From the Telegraph:
China now has the second most billionaires in the world, after the United States with more than 400.
“The numbers are growing much faster than people expected,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, the founder of the list, who added there could be the same number of billionaires again who are off his radar, keeping their assets as quiet as possible.
“In the past few weeks, I have also been speaking to a number of people who have cashed out of their first empires and are busy building their second,” he said. “Many billionaires are also much more comfortable in their skins. The shareholder structures of their companies are becoming clearer and clearer and many of them are also co-opted into the political system.” Mr Hoogewerf said part of the reason for the huge increase in the numbers of super-rich had been a wave of stock market flotations, despite the financial crisis.
Read more about the individuals on the list and how they made their money, from the Christian Science Monitor:
In a survey of China’s richest citizens published Wednesday, the top spot went to a man whose company makes the heavy machinery used to build apartment blocks. Second spot went to a soft drinks manufacturer. Third spot to the country’s leading Internet entrepreneur.
Liang Wengen, China’s new richest man according to the Hurun Rich List, saw his fortune balloon this year along with the value of the company he founded, the Sany Group. He owns 58 percent of the firm, the biggest manufacturer of concrete pumping machinery in the world.
