Hydropower equipment supplier joins ranks of China billionaires

Sun Yi, chairman of Zhefu Holding Group, has joined the ranks of the world’s billionaires following gains in the share price of his two Shenzhen-listed companies. Sun, 47, owns 22% of Zhefu Holding Group, a supplier of hydropower plant equipment, and 2.8% of Shanghai 2345 Network Holding Group, a IT firm, that were worth a combined 6.4 billion yuan, or $1.1 billion at Wednesday’s closing prices after discounting for collateralized shares.

Zhefu Holding Group’s history traces back to a state-owned machinery factory founded in 1970. Sun started working for the predecessor of Zhefu Holding Group in 1986. Zhefu’s revenue in 2014 was 688.6 million yuan, or $110 million. Shanghai 2345 Network Holding Group completed a backdoor listing last year, and its shares have soared.

China’s richest man, Li Hejun, chairman of Hanergy Group, also derives part of his fortune from the hydropower energy business.  The country, one of the world’s fastest-growing sources of new billionaires in the past decade, had 213 members of the 2015 Forbes Billionaires List, second only to the United States.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/russellflannery/2015/03/26/hydropower-equipment-supplier-joins-ranks-of-china-billionaires/?ss=energy