Li Li, the founder and chairman of Hepalink Pharmaceutical, the world’s biggest maker of blood-thinning heparin products, became China’s richest man when his company was listed on the Shenzhen stock market, increasing his wealth to $7.8 billion. From the New York Times:
On Thursday, in their first day of trade on the Shenzhen stock exchange, the heparin supplier’s shares soared 18.3 percent, valuing the company at about 70 billion renminbi, or $10 billion. The initial value and the sharp rise Thursday recalled the heady days of the world before Lehman Brothers collapsed, and the gains bucked another weak session for Asian stock markets.
The listing has most likely catapulted Li Li and his wife, Tan Li, to the top of China’s rich list: the two hold about 288 million shares of the company they founded in 1998, according to the state-run news agency Xinhua. At a closing price of 175.2 renminbi, their stake is worth about 50.4 billion renminbi, or $7.4 billion.
This easily tops the estimated fortune of Wang Chuanfu, the owner of the car and battery manufacturer BYD. He had been China’s wealthiest man, with an estimated fortune of $5.1 billion, according to data compiled by Hurun Report, a research and publishing house based in Shanghai.
See also “Drug maker debut lands China’s new richest man” from Reuters.
