Hui Ka Yan Conglomerate, Owner Of China Evergrande Property Company, Once A Fertilizer Digger And Believes In Divination

The owner of Evergrande, Hui Ka Yan Conglomerate (Photo: Doc. Forbes)

JAKARTA - Chinese conglomerate Hui Ka Yan, owner of Evergrande, is in a precarious position. This is because the property company has to pay off bond interest payments of US$84 million (Rp1.2 trillion) on Thursday, September 23.

In Newsweek's report, quoted on Thursday, September 23, credit rating agency S&P Global predicts that the Xi Jinping administration will refuse to save China's second-largest property company, which is on the brink.

Hui Ka Yan himself also did not convey what plans he would make in paying off Evergrande's debt with a total of more than 300 billion US dollars or equivalent to Rp. 4,200 trillion (exchange rate of Rp. 14,000/US dollar). Through Chinese social media, Weibo, many people call him delusional people and con artists.

Evergrande is facing the biggest failure in the world economy. But looking back, Hui Ka Yan has been through great success through various quite difficult obstacles.

Hui Ka Yan, born in 1958 in the rural area of Jutaigang, Gaoxian, Central Henan Province, West China. Living with his grandmother, Hui's father was a revolutionary soldier who fought against the Japanese, while his mother died before his first birthday.

At the beginning of his career, Hui Ka Yan had many jobs. He even worked as a fertilizer digger before working in a cement factory.

During those times, Hui claimed to have met a fortune teller who said that he would have a "golden bowl in the future" alias success in the future. The story continues, where after quitting work in a cement factory in late 1970, Hui was accepted at the Institute of Iron and Steel which is now known as the Wuhan University of Science and Technology.

From there, Hui worked for several years at the Wuyang Iron and Steel Company after graduation. Hui also grew closer to the "golden bowl" after founding the Evergrande Group in 1997.

Evergrande is in the property business and conducted an IPO in 2009 with a value of 722 million US dollars at the time. Along with China's economic growth, in 2018 Brand Finance made the real estate company the most valuable company.

Meanwhile, Hui Ka Yan owns about 70 percent of Evergrande's shares with a value of around 11 billion US dollars. Forbes also ranked Hui as the 53rd richest person in the world and 10th in China.

Through his wealth, Hui invested in the manufacture of electric cars and bought the Guangzhou Football Club which was eventually named Guangzhou Evergrande. This club is very valuable to China and the most successful football team.

However, currently Hui Ka Yan was getting closer and closer to facing annihilation. He employs about 200,000 employees in his business octopus such as businesses in consumer products, electric vehicles, healthcare services, and the video production sector.