The richest female billionaires on the planet | Business

China's second richest female billionaire takes over her father's real estate empire

CNBC reported that according to a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on March 1, Ms. Yang Huiyan has just taken over full control of Country Garden - China's leading real estate group - after her father, Mr. Yang Guoqiang, resigned.

The statement said Mr. Duong had resigned as chairman “due to his age.” He is the latest in a long line of real estate entrepreneurs to exit their companies as dark clouds hang over the industry.

Before founding Country Garden in 1992, Mr. Duong was a farmer and construction worker. In less than a decade, he turned the company into one of the largest real estate developers in the country.

Nữ tỷ phú giàu thứ 2 Trung Quốc tiếp quản đế chế địa ốc của cha - Ảnh 1.

Ms. Duong Hue Nghien. Photo: CNN.

Top real estate empire

The company's IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2007 was worth $1.7 billion . Last year, Country Garden was the top real estate group in terms of revenue with $67 billion .

Since 2018, Ms. Duong has been co-chairman of Country Garden and runs the group's daily operations with her father.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as of March 2, Ms. Duong holds assets worth 9.2 billion USD . She is the second richest woman in China, only after Ms. Wu Yajun - co-founder and Chairman of real estate company Longfor Properties.

Ms. Yang’s wealth comes mainly from her stake in Country Garden, which Mr. Yang transferred to his daughter in 2005, two years before the company’s IPO.

Nữ tỷ phú giàu thứ 2 Trung Quốc tiếp quản đế chế địa ốc của cha - Ảnh 2.

Mr. Duong Quoc Cuong. Photo: Reuters.

Mr. Yang’s departure from Country Garden comes at a time when China’s property market is mired in crisis. The industry has been rocked by Beijing’s tightening of controls to reduce leverage and curb speculation in an overheated market.

The crisis caused China Evergrande, China's second-largest real estate group, to default in 2021. Country Garden's shares have also lost more than half their value in the past year.

Last November, Zhang Lei, founder and chairman of Modern Land, resigned. A month earlier, China's richest woman, Wu Yajun, also left Longfor Properties, citing "health and age" reasons.

In September, Mr. Pan Shiyi and his wife, Ms. Zhang Xin, also stepped down as chairman and CEO of Soho China, a real estate group based in Beijing.

The volatile phase

Sales at China’s 100 largest real estate companies fell 33% year-on-year in the first month of 2023. Home prices in the country have fallen for 16 consecutive months through December.

China’s home prices ended a 16-month decline this year and stabilized in January, after Beijing rolled out a series of support measures, including plans to ease restrictions on property developers’ borrowing.

The "three red lines" policy - announced in late 2020 - has made the real estate crisis in the country of 1.4 billion people even worse.

Beijing may also allow some real estate companies to increase leverage by raising borrowing limits and extending grace periods, Bloomberg reported.

In addition, China is allowing cities to extend measures introduced last September that allowed for lower interest rates for non-homeowners if new home prices fell for three consecutive months.

Last year, Beijing issued a 16-point rescue package for the real estate sector, which at the time was seen as the strongest rescue signal yet from Chinese authorities.

Measures included extending loans to real estate businesses, boosting real estate sales by reducing down payments, cutting interest rates, promoting funding channels such as bond issuance, and ensuring home delivery to customers.

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