A man walks past the hotel where Chinese billionaire Xiao Jianhua was reportedly abducted by mainland security agents last month. (Photo : Getty Images)
While questions are still unanswered about the reported disappearance of Chinese businessman Xiao Jianhua from Hong Kong with alleged security representatives from the mainland, Xiao's ownership of shares in a holding company also remains to be a mystery.
Citing regulatory filings, Forbes reported that it was Xiao Weihua, not his cousin Xiao Jianhua, who is the biggest shareholder of Tomorrow Holdings, which also owns majority stakes in three China-listed businesses.
According to the document, Xiao Weihua owns 29 percent in the company while the remainder is distributed among six other individuals.
However, Tomorrow Holdings could not be reach to verify Xiao Jianhua's stake or if he used proxies. Chinese media believed that the shareholders of the company are merely fronts.
In 2013, the New York Times reported about Xiao Jianhua's business connections with the family of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Xiao was a powerful figure in the stock market and in 2011, pictures of him in public appeared for the first time.
Recently, he was reported to be conducting meetings at the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong's business district, surrounded by female bodyguards.
The report said that it was not the first time that a shareholding was used by a business owner with ties to the family of a Communist Party leader. The shareholding structure of Anbang Insurance, which was believed to be controlled by Wu Xiaohui, is shadowy. Wu is married to the granddaughter of former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping.
Three listed companies in China were indirectly under the control of Tomorrow Holdings, according to the stock exchange filings. They are: Baotou Huazi Industry, Xishui Strong Year and Baotou Tomorrow Technology. Xiao Weihua's shares in the three listed companies are equivalent to about $225 million, without calculating collateralization or the cost of shares.
Aside from the three companies, Tomorrow Holdings also manages asset management companies and other investments. In May last year, an unnamed financial institution offered to provide 20 billion yuan ($2.9 billion) for Tomorrow Holding's expansion, according to stock filing by Huazi. Details about Tomorrow Holding's net assets were not given.
A report by a local Shidai magazine in 2011 said that Xiao Jianhua was one of the country's successful stock brokers. But after 2008, following the suicide of tycoon Wei Dong and the arrest of Wang Yi, China's No. 2 stock regulator, who were both his close friends, Xiao's fortunes changed, Shidai reported.
Xiao Jianhua, now a Canadian citizen, reportedly moved overseas and appeared a few years later.
Meanwhile, Wei Dong'swidow, Chen Jinxia, is on Forbes Billionaires list with a fortune worth $1.75 billion.
Following Xiao Jianhua's disappearance in Hong Kong, shares of Tomorrow's companies dropped at China's stock exchange, the report said.
According to reports, Xiao Jianhua is being questioned by mainland security investigating the stock market bubble in 2015 when short-sellers profited from the stocks at that time.
