Money Matters | Confessions of a self-made Chinese tycoon who’s too big to fail
Loans beget shares, which beget more loans, and letters of credit, which beget more loans, and cash
Imagine I’m one of those private entrepreneurs whose business has gone down in flames with spectacular debt.
I know the Chinese word for risk is fengxian (風險). Only it has a different definition in my dictionary.
I have built from scratch an enterprise that employs tens of thousands of people. Trust me, in China’s corporate jungle, it took more than just luck.
Yet, the success can be easily wiped out by a change in policy or the whims of government officials. I had to diversify before my political connections expire. A public listing was the only way to go.
The A-share market was closed to me. The regulators were savvy and the queue was long. I didn’t have the money and connection for that. Hong Kong was my saviour.
A nosy accountant has blocked my first listing attempt. His surprise visit found nothing in some of my backwater plants. I spent a few years getting the numbers, plants and, most important of all, my advisers right.
