“THE history of the development of the human society is a history of discovering and exploiting energy.” With those grand words did Li Hejun (pictured), one of China’s wealthiest billionaires, inaugurate a giant exhibition centre devoted to clean energy near Beijing’s Olympic Forest Park on May 20th. At the event his firm showed off fancy kit that it says it is developing, including solar technologies for the cars of the future.
As Mr Li was waxing lyrical in the Chinese capital, something astonishing was happening in Hong Kong to Hanergy Thin Film Power Group, the listed subsidiary of his privately-held Hanergy Group. Possibly spooked by Mr Li’s failure to attend the company’s annual shareholder meeting, investors dumped its shares. The company, which the previous day had been worth about $40 billion, had lost almost half its value before regulators stepped in and halted trading. On one estimate, Mr Li saw about $14 billion of his personal fortune vanish in a few hours.
Hanergy is but the latest Chinese Icarus to fly...
from The Economist: Business http://ift.tt/1ElBjyx
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