Appliance king Wong Kwong-yu (黃光裕), one of China’s richest tycoons, is under police investigation for alleged share trading violations, local newspapers reported yesterday.
Wong is founder and controlling shareholder in Gome Electrical Appliances Holdings, China’s biggest appliance chain.
Trading of its shares was halted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
A Gome statement said the company was “making necessary enquiries” regarding the allegations against Wong.
“As of the date of this announcement, the company is not in a position to confirm the accuracy of the information” in the newspaper articles, Gome said in a notice to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx).
The company’s operations were continuing as normal, and HKEx had not received any legal notices from Chinese authorities, it said.
Gome’s shares closed on Friday at HK$1.12 (US$0.15). Their high over the last 12 months was HK$5.37.
Phone lines at the company’s headquarters in Beijing rang busy yesterday.
There are varying estimates of the fortune held by 39-year-old Wong, also known by the name Huang Guangyu.
But he recently topped a list of China’s wealthiest individuals compiled by Shanghai-based analyst Rupert Hoogewerf, with assets said to be worth US$6.3 billion.
Gome recently set a deal with Dell to sell Dell computers through its outlets.
The state-run newspaper China Securities Journal reported that Wong was being questioned by police for alleged share price manipulation.
The allegations are linked to medicine maker Shandongs Jintai Group Co, which has shares traded in Shanghai that are reportedly controlled by Wong’s brother, Huang Jinshi.
Trading in financially troubled Shandong Jintai’s shares was suspended yesterday.
Wong, who started out selling clothing, founded Gome in 1987.
The company now operates more than 1,300 stores and employs about 300,000 people.
Yesterday, it reported that its net profit for the first nine months of the year more than doubled from a year earlier to 1.6 billion yuan (US$233 million).
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