Bloomberg
Zong Qinghou, China’s richest man who is worth an estimated $11.3 billion, plans to add more malls across Chinese cities as he considers an initial public offering for those operations.
There is no specific time frame for the share sale, Zong said at a press conference in Beijing today. The billionaire controls food and beverage conglomerate Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co. (HWGZ), which plans to have about 100 malls in China in the next three to five years, according to a statement from the closely held company today.
“We will need to make profit on our retail business for three consecutive years if we want to sell shares and we will need to see whether there is still demand for our IPO by that time,” Zong said in an interview.
Profits from Wahaha’s drinks operations have helped boost the fortunes of the 67-year-old billionaire, who with his family holds more than 80 percent of the company. The company is investing 1.7 billion yuan ($277 million) in the mall business initially and will spend another 10 billion yuan in future, Zong said at the briefing.