Any pretence that Hui Ka Yan, once China’s richest man, remains in control of events at China Evergrande Group ended this week as state representatives took the majority of seats on a new risk management committee established by the heavily indebted developer.
In a statement issued on Monday night after shares in Evergrande fell to a record low in Hong Kong trading, Hui said the new committee would not report to the board “but will play an important role in mitigating and eliminating the future risks of the group”.
While Hui is nominally chair of the seven-seat committee, four slots are held by representatives of state-owned enterprises controlled by either the central government or regional governments in southern Guangdong province. Evergrande is headquartered in Shenzhen, the high-tech manufacturing and services centre bordering Hong Kong.