His empire had few rivals but the bet failed and now creditors are seeking to seize his assets.
He real estate tycoon Pan Sutong He had amassed a fortune of approximately $12.2 billion, which included a mansion in Hong Kong next to the richest person in the city, Li Ka-shing. He had vineyards in California and France, as well as a horse training and breeding camp in Australia that spanned almost 500 hectares.
Although he had not finished high school, Pan managed to convert his Goldin Group into a sprawling conglomerate spanning consumer electronics, winemaking, financial services and, most important of all, property. His bet was to turn Goldin Metropolitan into a city for the rich and His project included 12 towers, 33 mansions and the tallest skyscraper in China, 117 stories high.
Pan Sutong
How did Pan Sutong lose almost his entire US$12 billion fortune?
The adversities for Pan Sutong began when opted for the construction of Goldin Metropolitana mini-city located in Tianjin, southeast of Beijing. The magnate aspired to turn this city into a regional economic center and was going to have 33 mansions, 12 apartment buildings and a skyscraper 117 stories high, which would make it the tallest in the country.
In 2015 he was forced to stop work due to lack of funds. It had received $5.9 billion but needed another $10,000. From the following year, Sutong’s assets began to fall from 12 billion dollars until 2021, which remained at 1.8 billion, but with a large amount of debt. In the last 5 years, the financial arm of the conglomerate has lost more than 90% of its value.
In 2020, creditors seized its headquarters, a 28-story building located in Kowloon Bay, due to non-payment of a debt of more than 1.3 billion dollars.
What future awaits Pan Sutong after his financial fall and legal problems?
The tycoon refuses to sell his assets to pay off debts because that would mean accepting failure and breaking up his real estate company. Additionally, President Xi Jinping has tried to control property prices, making it difficult for Sutong to make profits. Developers are now reluctant to acquire land, particularly as many have encountered their own cash flow problems and recently defaulted on their debts.
Goldin Financial Global Center need a new buyer after an earlier deal to sell it for $1.8 billion was terminated in May for unspecified reasons. Pan resigned in June as the company’s president and CEO and handed the reins to former vice president Abraham Shek Lai Him.
Source: Ambito
