Stock market boom, new listings mint China billionaires at record pace

Nongfu Spring

20/10/2020 05:01

SHANGHAI, Oct 20 (Reuters) - China is minting new
billionaires at a record pace despite an economy bruised by the
coronavirus pandemic, thanks to booming share prices and a spate
of new stock listings, according to a list released on Tuesday.
    The Hurun China Rich List 2020 also highlights China's
accelerated shift away from traditional sectors like
manufacturing and real estate, towards e-commerce, fintech and
other new economy industries.
    Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba  9988.HK , retained the top spot
for the third year in a row, with his personal wealth jumping
45% to $58.8 billion partly due to the impending mega-listing of
fintech giant Ant Group  IPO-ANTG.SS .
    Ant is expected to create more mega-rich through what is
likely to be the world's biggest IPO, as it plans to raise an
estimated $35 billion through a dual listing in Shanghai and
Hong Kong.
    The combined wealth of those on the Hurun China list - with
an individual wealth cut-off of 2 billion yuan ($299.14 million)
- totaled $4 trillion, more than the annual gross domestic
product (GDP) of Germany, according to Rupert Hoogewerf, the
Hurun Report's chairman. 
    More wealth was created this year than in the previous five
years combined, with China's rich-listers adding $1.5 trillion,
roughly half the size of Britain's GDP. 
    Booming stock markets and a flurry of new listings have
created five new dollar billionaires in China a week for the
past year, Hoogewerf said in a statement.
    "The world has never seen this much wealth created in just
one year. China's entrepreneurs have done much better than
expected. Despite Covid-19 they have risen to record levels."
    According to a separate estimate by PwC and UBS, only
billionaires in the United States possessed greater combined
wealth than those in mainland China.     
    China has accelerated capital market reforms to aid a
virus-hit economy, accelerate economic restructuring and fund a
"tech war" with the United States. 
    To expedite initial public offerings (IPOs), regulators
launched a U.S.-style IPO system on Shanghai's Nasdaq-style STAR
Market and Shenzhen's ChiNext. Chinese corporate listings in
Hong Kong and Nasdaq have also turbocharged the fortunes of
company founders. 
    Zhong Shanshan, who recently listed his bottled water maker
Nongfu Spring Co  9633.HK  in Hong Kong, shot straight into the
top 3 with $53.7 billion, trailing Tencent  0700.HK  founder
Pony Ma. 
    The wealth of He Xiaopeng surged 80% to $6.6 billion after
the listing of his electric vehicle maker Xpeng Motors  XPEV.N 
in New York during the summer. 
    ($1 = 6.6858 Chinese yuan)

 (Reporting by Samuel Shen and Brenda Goh; Editing by Simon
Cameron-Moore)
 ((samuel.shen@thomsonreuters.com;  +86 21 20830018; Reuters
Messaging: samuel.shen.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))