Wang Wenyin, founder and chairman of Amer International Group.
Visual China Group via Getty Images
A Chinese court has ordered the freezing of all shares that billionaire Wang Wenyin holds in his private metals giant. Amer International Group.
The Qingdao Intermediate People’s Court ordered a three-year freeze on Wang’s 90% stake in Amer Holding, the parent company of Amer International Group, according to China’s Qichacha company database. The order was issued Oct. 24, but the reasons for the action were not disclosed in the filing. The court order itself was also not available in China’s official legal database.
In the days following the court ruling, Wang resigned as chairman of Shenzhen Amer, a subsidiary of Amer Holding, according to documents filed by Qichacha. Wang continues to serve as executive director of Amer Holding.
Wang, who was ranked 14th with a fortune of $12.7 billion among China’s richest, is now worth much less. Based on the new information on restrictions, Forbes estimates his current net worth at $6.7 billion, after applying a discount to the value of Wang’s stake in Amer, which represents the bulk of his wealth. Wang did not respond to a request for comment.
Shen Meng, chief executive of Beijing-based investment bank Chanson & Co, said Wang may have failed to repay loans secured by pledging his shares in Amer Holding as collateral, prompting creditors to to act.
Amer is no stranger to controversy in recent years. Local media reported that the company had a history of overpromising and underperforming on some of its projects. According to Hongxing News, Amer failed to complete an industrial park in the port city of Nantong, a project that the company said included an investment of 30 billion yuan ($4.1 billion) in partnership with the local government.
In recent months, Wang has become embroiled in contract disputes and local courts have temporarily ordered him to refrain from extravagant purchases. Chinese courts often impose such restrictions on people who have failed to comply with debt repayment orders. The orders effectively prohibit them from making non-essential purchases. These restrictions on Wang have since been lifted.
Nicknamed the “King of Copper,” Wang was born in the Chinese interior and traveled to coastal Shenzhen to seek opportunities in 1993 with 400 yuan in his pocket. He established Amer International in the mid-1990s and has since grown it into China’s leading copper and cable supplier. The company claims to have generated more than $90 billion in revenue in 2022, with operations in Asia, Europe and the United States.
Wang entered the ranks of China’s richest people a decade ago and became China’s fifth-richest person with a net worth of $12.1 billion in 2015, the year he accompanied Chinese President Xi Jinping at the summit ceremony for the 70th anniversary of the United Nations in New York. His wealth peaked at $18.3 billion in 2021.
Wang is also known to be a close ally of Hui Ka Yan, the founder of troubled real estate developer China Evergrande. Amer agreed in 2017 to buy a 1.2% stake in an Evergrande unit for 5 billion yuan, and in 2020 Wang was photographed at an Evergrande signing ceremony for a placement deal which helped the property developer overcome a cash flow crisis at the time.
-With the help of Yue Wang