Xi rewrites China's rags to riches tale

HONG KONG: Getting rich in China isn't what it used to be. Little known Zhong Shanshan sits atop an $84 billion fortune, Asia's largest, thanks to bets on bottled water and vaccines. His unlikely rise reflects a new economy under President Xi Jinping.

The 66-year-old Zhong is currently ranked the 8th richest man in the world, according to a real-time index from Forbes, ahead of former Google head Larry Page and India's Mukesh Ambani.

The enigmatic billionaire is best known for his beverage empire Nongfu Spring. Its shares have nearly tripled since they debuted in Hong Kong in September, giving the company a market capitalisation of $86 billion as of Friday morning. Zhong's other venture, Wantai Biological Pharmacy, has seen its stock rise some 150% in Shanghai over the same period.

Zhong stands out as a "lone wolf" due to his low public profile and lack of visible political and business alliances. In a rare 2015 media interview, the beverage magnate belittled internet companies as merely "putting goods online" and bashed real estate groups for hijacking the economy.

That looks prescient. Beijing has renewed a crackdown on indebted property developers like Hui Ka Yan's China Evergrande . The abrupt regulatory halt to Jack Ma's financial technology group Ant's initial public offering and anti-trust investigation into Alibaba also signal Xi is reining in the country's internet giants. Ma's and Hui's global Forbes rankings have fallen in 2020.

At the same time, investors have piled into consumer plays in the People's Republic, minting a new class of billionaires. The $415 billion liquor maker Kweichow Moutai is the most valuable listed company in mainland China, worth nearly three times Diageo and Pernod Ricard combined. And according to the Forbes rich-list, the biggest gainer in 2020 is a Chinese pig breeder.

The increasingly frothy valuations risk attracting the ire of Xi, who is already busy stamping out bubbles in property, electric cars, chips and elsewhere. That puts Zhong at the mercy of investor whims and official policy. Moreover, growth in bottled water sales is forecast to slow, while his pharmaceutical company relies on government subsidies. As with water, riches can flow right out of one's hands, especially in China.