In August 2018, Zhu Li Yuehua's 60th birthday, which is also the 35th anniversary of the couple's marriage, coincided with her rise to the top of the richest woman, and she celebrated her birthday in Jeju Island, South Korea. It is said that this luxurious birthday banquet costs 100 million. However, in the following years, Zhu Li Yuehua was involved in several major cases that shocked the financial circle, and at the same time, the VIP room business of Macau casinos was uprooted, and the related gray business suffered heavy blows one after another, and she also fell to the altar since then.
Text | Financial gossip female author: Shuno
The former "richest woman in Hong Kong" financial company is about to be privatized and delisted.
Recently, Kingston Financial announced that the actual controller Zhu Li Yuehua intends to privatize the company and cancel its listing status. Because the premium was about 47.78% repurchased, after the resumption of trading of Jinli & Fung Financial, the stock price soared by 40.39%.
As the big boss behind it, Zhu Li Yuehua is known as the "Queen of Investment Banking", "Queen of the Shell" and "Princess of the Gambling Hall" in the financial circle of Hong Kong, China. It is said that her father is only the younger brother of the "gambling king" Stanley Ho, but she became the richest woman in Hong Kong on her own.
Zhu Li Yuehua has close personal friends with bigwigs in the political, business and entertainment circles. In 2015, her son held a wedding, and Liang Anqi and Xiang Huaqiang were present to congratulate him; On her 60th birthday in 2018, she was dressed in pearlescent and spent hundreds of millions of yuan to party, and Xi Mihua and Zhang Zhilin were all guests.
▲Zhu Li Yuehua (middle)
But now is different, dragged down by the investigation of many bigwigs, the circle has been shaken and shuffled several times, her business empire is faintly collapsing, and the delisting of her financial company is only the tip of the iceberg...
1.
/ has a close relationship with the "gambling king" family,
Walk between black and white /
The origins of Zhu Li Yuehua's family are closely related to the gambling king family.
In 1958, before Zhu Li Yuehua was born, her father Li Huiwen was the "big red man" beside the gambling king. It is said that for every 100 yuan Stanley Ho earns, Li Huiwen has 30 yuan.
Li Huiwen, formerly known as Li Shufu, known as "Brother Fu", was first in the Ap Lei Chau area, providing fishermen with fishing boat mortgages. Later, with his extraordinary ability, he became the owner of the Golden Club, the largest VIP gambling hall at Casino Lisboa in Macau, China, and can be regarded as a veteran of the gambling industry in Macau.
▲ Li Huiwen, Zhu Li Yuehua
Li Huiwen knows that the casino is mixed, and in order to protect her daughter's innocence and safety, when her daughter was 14 years old, she sent her to San Francisco to study early. After that, Zhu Liyuehua studied management at Golden Gate University in the United States, and immigrated directly to the United States at the age of 18.
After graduating from university, Zhu Li Yuehua met Zhu Woyu, the "true son of destiny", abroad. In 1985, she married Zhu Woyu and took her husband's surname. After marriage, the two engaged in real estate business in California, and it is said that the return is quite high, and they achieved financial freedom at the age of 30.
However, the couple is not satisfied with the comfort of the United States. In 1992, in order to pursue a broader space for development, the two chose to move back to Hong Kong, China to settle.
After returning to Hong Kong, relying on her father's connections, Zhu Li Yuehua met various rich people, including Stanley Ho, He Chaoqiong, Leung Angel of the gambling king family, "jewelry king" Zheng Yutong, "actress sniper" Liu Luanxiong, "Chongqing Li Ka-shing" Zhang Songqiao, former chairman of Chong Hing Bank Liao Liewen...
▲Zhu Li Yuehua (second from left) Angel Leung (second from right)
▲Zhu Woyu (first left) Liu Luanxiong (second from left) Zhu Li Yuehua (second from right)
Subsequently, she obtained a stockbrokerage license from her father's friend and founded Kingston Securities with her husband.
In the early days of entrepreneurship, the super-rich Zheng Yutong, Zhang Songqiao and Liu Luanxiong, known as the "Iron Triangle", not only favored her, but also helped her in many business aspects. Soon, Jinli & Fung Securities became a well-known "rich royal securities house" in the circle.
In 2002, Zhu Li Yuehua and Ho Youlong founded the "Hong Kong Chamber of Listed Companies", nominally to consolidate the connection between listed companies in Hong Kong, but in fact, rich people "huddle" to make more money.
In 2005, Zhu Li Yuehua ushered in a turning point in his career. At that time, after acquiring the listed company "Maite Technology" with financial problems, she changed her name to "Gold Group", and then acquired Grandview Macau and Casa Real Golden Hotel for more than 1.7 billion, opening a casino "VIP room", which is regarded as inheriting her father's gaming business.
The VIP places where such gamblers gamble are often opened on the upper floors of five-star hotels, and there are "stackers" responsible for soliciting. The place where ordinary tourists gamble is called "midfield", which is mostly located on the first floor of the hotel.
Business is doing well, and Zhu Li Yuehua is known as the "Princess of the Gambling Hall", but she is not satisfied with this.
In 2010, in order to put the financial business into the listed company, Zhu Liyuehua promoted the backdoor listing of Jinli Fung, and the backdoor company was still a gold group. At that time, Gold Group acquired all the interests of Jinli & Fung for 12 billion, and the listed company was renamed "Jinli & Fung Financial".
In the financial structure of Jinli Fung, Zhu Liyuehua gave up the position of chairman of the board of directors to her husband, and she only served as CEO, but she was the head behind the company, owning nearly 75% of the equity.
Subsequently, her son Zhu Junhao also returned to the company and is now an executive director of Kingston Financial and a senior manager of Kingston Financial Consulting Co., Ltd., responsible for executing corporate finance projects. Zhu Li Yuehua also gave Jin Lifeng the English name Kingston, and Kingston is also Zhu Junhao's name.
Before working in his own company, Zhu Junhao was also in the financial circle. After graduating from the University of Southern California, he worked as a trader at a securities firm for 2 and a half years.
Zhu Junhao said that after returning to Jinlifeng, he did not enjoy special treatment, did not have a separate office, was 9 to 8 like everyone, and had to accompany his parents to participate in various social studies after work.
▲ The Zhu family of three
In 2012, Zhu Li Yuehua personally acquired all the shares of Sincere Watch, the parent company of Xian Shi Watch Bank, at a cost of more than 1.4 billion, and then sent his son to serve as the general manager.
One of her reasons for the acquisition was that her whole family was a lover of the famous watch Franck Muller, who was the first to act as an agent of the watch house. It can only be said that the fun of rich people is so "unpretentious".
So then again, how rich is she?
2.
/ Relying on "shell frying" to become the richest woman in Hong Kong,
Spend hundreds of millions to invite celebrities to open a party /
From 2017 to 2018, Zhu Li Yuehua ushered in a "highlight moment".
She was not only selected as one of the "Four Richest Women in Hong Kong", but also killed the wife and daughter of gambling king Stanley Ho and became the richest woman in Hong Kong.
In the 2017 Forbes Hong Kong Rich List, she ranked 14th with a net worth of US$4.8 billion, surpassing Ho Chaoqiong and Leung Angel to become the richest woman in Hong Kong; In 2018, with a fortune of US$12 billion, Zhu Li Yuehua continued to be the richest woman in Hong Kong, ranking 7th on the rich list.
The reason why Zhu Li Yuehua's worth has risen is because of the soaring share price of Jinli & Fung Financial. Since 2017, the share price of Jinli & Fung Financial has risen from around HK$2 to about HK$10, with a market value of more than 130 billion.
At that time, under the favor of mainland private enterprises, the Hong Kong stock market shell building, shell raising, shell trading, and backdoor listing industries were vigorous, and the development of Jinli & Fung Financial also ushered in new opportunities. Initially, Kingston acted as a sponsor and underwriter for small companies that had difficulty accessing large investment banks, taking into account financing services.
Later, it switched to mainly providing "shell selling one-stop service". During this period, the shadow of Kingston Financial can be seen in many shell stock transactions, which has participated in several sensational acquisitions and has become the largest brokerage company in Hong Kong.
Among them, in 2009, Zhu Li Yuehua joined forces with his father and a group of Hong Kong bigwigs such as the billionaire Liu Luanxiong to gamble on the privatization of PCCW and make a lot of money. Zhu Li Yuehua also took advantage of this name to move Hong Kong, and was praised by the Hong Kong media as the "queen of investment banking" in Hong Kong.
▲Zhu Li Yuehua Image source: Visual China
Because of the more than 150 listed companies that have traded in the shell, Zhu Li Yuehua is also named "shell queen". A Hong Kong analyst analyzed her operation and summarized its two main ways of "shell frying":
1. Fast in and fast out, most of the holding time is not more than 6 months, for example, in 2016, she bought 5 stocks of Nissei Holdings, Sunway International, Huarong Investment, Huaren Catering and Yixin Holdings, and bought a large amount of money to raise the stock price, and after becoming the controlling shareholder, she changed hands and cleared the position for a few months, allowing the stock price to fall freely.
2. Raise money for penny companies and earn interest. When penny stocks become insolvent, these companies use equity against bonds, and Kingston gains control and owns "shell shares", and then resells the acquired Hong Kong shell shares to mainland companies to help them backdoor list. For example, the mainland Jenga Group is listed in Hong Kong through Yongjun International Holdings.
This kind of industrial chain between black and white, in the Hong Kong financial market, which is actively traded, has experienced a period of "barbaric growth", and Zhu Li Yuehua has also made a lot of money with abundant funds, top contacts, and accurate investment vision.
After making money, she did not forget to invite rich and celebrities to parties, weddings, birthday banquets, etc. were very grand, not only to exchange feelings, but also to find new business opportunities.
In November 2015, his son Zhu Junhao and his girlfriend Luo Zhiqi, who had been in love for 9 years, held a grand wedding and wedding on Koh Samui. At this wedding, the celebrities from all walks of life came to the scene, including Liang Anqi, Xiang Huaqiang and his wife, Zhang Zhilin and his wife, Liu Jialing and so on.
Back in Hong Kong, the Zhu family held another 150 banquet guests. Zhu Junhao said that this is all paid by his mother, and his mother's only request is that he hopes that the little two will open up as soon as possible. On that day, Zhu Li Yuehua was also a jewel and radiant.
In August 2018, Zhu Li Yuehua's 60th birthday, which is also the 35th anniversary of the couple's marriage, coincided with her rise to the top of the richest woman, and she made a more generous move.
At that time, she celebrated her birthday in Jeju Island, South Korea, and invited more than 400 rich celebrities on a chartered flight, including Mr. and Mrs. Xiang Huaqiang, Xie Mihua, and Zhang Zhilin as guests. It is said that this luxurious birthday banquet costs 100 million.
However, in the following years, Zhu Li Yuehua was involved in several major cases that shocked the financial circle, and at the same time, the VIP room business of Macau casinos was uprooted, and the related gray business suffered heavy blows one after another, and she also fell to the altar since then.
3.
/ Involved in major cases in the financial circle,
Casino business "devastated" /
At the end of January 2018, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission named Kingston Financial for the first time, saying that its equity was highly concentrated.
This puts the issue of Jinli Fung's equity on the table: major shareholders are highly controlled, and it is very easy to have a small trading volume but a sharp rise and fall.
At that time, Zhu Li Yuehua held 74.6% of the shares in Jinli Fung, and together with 19 shareholders, held a total of 17.05% of the company's equity, accounting for a total of 91.653%. In other words, Kingston has only 8.347% of the shares, which are held by other investors.
▲Jinli & Fung Financial Equity Structure
After being named by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, the stock price of Jinli & Fung Financial plummeted, falling by more than 30% in three days.
In September 2018, Jinlifeng was named for the second time by the CSRC. This time, she is suspected of being involved in the missing contact fraud case of Yang Zhizhi, chairman of Landing Group.
At that time, the CSRC froze the assets of the customers of three securities firms, including Jinli Fung, involving relevant assets amounting to HK$10.168 billion.
David Webb, an independent stock commentator, wrote that the frozen account belonged to Yang Zhizhi, chairman of Landing International.
Zhu Li Yuehua said in an interview that the frozen account is a personal matter of a customer of the company and will actively cooperate with the actions of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission.
It is worth noting that the place where the couple held their wedding anniversary celebration was the Jeju Shinhwa World Resort under Landing.
▲Zhou Zhuohua (first from the left)
In February 2019, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission again issued restraining notices to three securities firms, including Jinli & Fung, freezing the accounts of customers suspected of market misconduct, involving more than HK$3.8 billion, and the frozen customer account assets of Jinli & Fung Securities were about HK$1.091 billion.
According to an investigation by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, some listed companies are suspected of disclosing false or misleading financial information to induce investors to participate in fundraising activities.
On March 7, 2019, Kim was again searched by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, reportedly lasting up to five hours and taking away a large number of documents. As soon as this matter came out, there was a lot of noise for a while, and there were rumors in the market.
What did Zhu Li Yuehua commit? Subsequently, Kingston issued an announcement saying that it would not comment on the CSRC's execution of tasks in the group's offices, which would not have any impact on the company's operations.
Although Kingston Financial has tried to clear up the relationship, this does not seem to dispel the market's concerns. The next day, the company's stock price still fell by 8.70%.
Later, some media contacted securities analysts and told the truth of the matter:
It turned out that since 2018, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission has severely cracked down on operations such as old thousand shares and banker stocks, and a number of companies have been investigated and frozen the customer accounts of relevant brokerage firms.
Brokerage analysts said: "It is not ruled out that Jinlifeng abandoned the car before the strike hard and gradually withdrew from some shell stocks." ”
On the other hand, what makes Zhu Li Yuehua even more anxious is that her casino business has also suffered a "disaster".
In March 2022, Chu Li Yuehua's Macau Gold Group announced the closure of its business, involving the dismissal of more than 260 employees.
Prior to this, six VIP rooms had been formed in Macao, namely Zhu Li Yuehua's Gold Group, Ximihua's Suncity Group, Chen Ronglian's Dejin Group, Zhang Zhitai's Guangdong Group, Peng Yuexi's Juxing Group, and Wu Peici's boyfriend Ji Xiaobo's Hengsheng Group.
▲Zhou Zhuohua (left) Chen Ronglian (right)
Since November 2021, with the arrest of Zhou Zhuohua and An Yixuan's husband Chen Ronglian, VIP room business has been "uprooted", and casino operators such as Wynn Macau, Sands China, and Melco International have announced that they have terminated their cooperation with "VIP rooms".
In June 2022, the implementation of the new "Gaming Law" and the Mainland's crackdown on organizing Mainland residents to participate in overseas gambling led to the full withdrawal of the "VIP Lounge".
Obviously, the VIP room business of the "gambling hall princess" cannot continue. In terms of revenue composition, at the end of March 2022, Kingston Financial's financial services business in Hong Kong accounted for 96.96%, and Macau's hotel and gaming business accounted for only 3.04%.
In the past four years, the profit of Jinli & Fung Financial has also declined year by year, with the net profit attributable to the parent being HK $1.002 billion, HK $503 million, HK $56.253 million and HK $44.742 million respectively.
▲ Jinli & Fung Financial net profit attributable to the parent Image source: Oriental Wealth Network
After a series of rectifications and reshuffles, Jinli & Fung Financial recently announced that Zhu Li Yuehua intends to privatize the company and withdraw its listing status, with a cancellation price of HK$0.3 per share and a maximum cash payable of HK$1.037 billion.
As for the reasons for delisting, Kim pointed out that the market environment and financial risks are full of challenges, and the proposal provides attractive opportunities for scheme shareholders to sell their scheme shares at an attractive premium to the current market price in exchange for all cash, and to reduce illiquid discount and settlement risks.
However, because Zhu Li Yuehua acquired at a premium of about 47.78%, the stock price of Jinli & Fung Financial soared 40.39% after the resumption of trading on October 25, and the stock price stabilized at HK$0.285 per share in the following days.
▲Jinli & Fung Financial stock price trend Image source: Flush
Even so, based on the highest point of HK$10.255 per share in December 2017, the share price of Jinli & Fung Financial has fallen to only a fraction of the share, reduced to a "penny stock", and its market value has evaporated by 100 billion Hong Kong dollars.
Correspondingly, on the 2022 Forbes Hong Kong Rich List, Zhu Li Yuehua ranked 48th with $1.1 billion, with a net worth of $11 billion in 4 years, and the title of "Hong Kong's richest woman" was only short-lived.
And her good girlfriend Liang Angel is busy competing with He Chaoqiong, everyone is too busy to take care of themselves, and it has become a luxury to open a party again...
Resources:
"Xiangjiang Reminiscences || Those rich women on Forbes Hong Kong who have a full range of careers and families", Miss Lan and Miss Wong
Why do Hong Kong stocks frequently flash crash? Behind it is the Hong Kong "shell queen" abandoned car insurance coach, the incident involving this brokerage company has also been investigated by the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission many times," China Fund News