02 September 2020

Water: A Precious Commodity

Just like real estate H2O is a wealth-creator to build empires
‘Lone Wolf’ Tycoon Creates 68 Millionaires
With Water Empire
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Updated
 
That's a story made in China taken from Bloomberg News 
Zhong Shanshan is known as the “Lone Wolf.” - there's an explanation for that in a report late today: he has worked in construction, journalism, drug making and bottled water.
Those last two endeavors have made him one of the world’s richest people, but he’s rarely quoted in the press, isn’t involved in politics and his business interests aren’t entwined with other rich families, such as the property tycoons. Hence the nickname
Nongfu’s IPO is catapulting Zhong among China’s richest            
Family members and employees are sharing some of the riches
Based on the HK$21.50 ($2.77) pricing, Zhong’s 84% post-IPO stake in Nongfu is valued at $26 billion, putting his net worth at $38 billion. That would make him China’s third-richest man, behind Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Jack Ma and Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s Pony Ma, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
“Often, the founders will put together these structures to name shareholders ahead of an IPO, or they might offer grants to long-time employees to reward them for sticking around to build the business with them,” said Clifford Ng, a partner at Zhong Lun Law Firm in Hong Kong. “It’s a fairly common practice in China, and you see it more in family-owned businesses who have had long-term employees.”
JOINING THE 3-COMMA CLUB
Wealth Creation
The IPO market has long been an important source of wealth creation in China, but it has been turbocharged this year, even with the coronavirus pandemic.
In the six months through June, at least 24 people became billionaires from new listings on Chinese exchanges. Last week saw another three members enter the three-comma club as companies on Shenzhen’s ChiNext tech board started trading with no limits.
The country is also seeing a boom in the merely rich.
China added 158,000 millionaires in just one year, taking the number to more than 4.4 million -- the most after the U.S., according to Credit Suisse Group AG’s 2019 wealth report.
. . . For Zhong, who founded Nongfu’s predecessor in 1996, the rise to riches wasn’t obvious. His schooling was interrupted during China’s cultural revolution and he worked an assortment of jobs before finding bottled water.
Nongfu has also become a major producer of soft drinks, with about 40% of its 2019 revenue coming from products including teas, flavored vitamin drinks and juices.
A growing focus on healthy living and rising incomes mean Nongfu’s natural mineral water drinks will do better than other types of drinking water in coming years, . . ."
-- according to Kevin Kim, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.
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