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Tag Archives: Tycoon
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Adani abandons $2.5 billion share sale in big blow to Indian tycoon
NEW DELHI, Feb 1 (Reuters) – Gautam Adani’s flagship firm called off its $2.5 billion share sale in a dramatic reversal on Wednesday as a rout sparked by a U.S. short-seller’s criticisms wiped billions more off the value of the Indian tycoon’s stocks.
The withdrawal of the Adani Enterprises (ADEL.NS) share offering marks a stunning setback for Adani, the school dropout-turned-billionaire whose fortunes rose rapidly in recent years in line with stock values of his businesses.
“Today the market has been unprecedented, and our stock price has fluctuated over the course of the day. Given these extraordinary circumstances, the Company’s board felt that going ahead with the issue will not be morally correct,” Adani said.
“Our balance sheet is very healthy with strong cashflows and secure assets, and we have an impeccable track record of servicing our debt. This decision will not have any impact on our existing operations and future plans,” the billionaire added in a statement to Indian exchanges.
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Adani, whose global business interests span ports, airports, mining, cement and power, is battling to stabilise his companies and defend his reputation.
“Once the market stabilizes, we will review our capital market strategy,” he added.
A report by Hindenburg Research last week alleged improper use by the of offshore tax havens and stock manipulation by the Adani Group. It also raised concerns about high debt and the valuations of seven listed Adani companies.
The Jan. 24 report has since triggered a $86 billion erosion in market capitalisation of seven listed Adani Group companies.
Adani Group has denied the allegations, saying the short-seller’s allegation of stock manipulation has “no basis” and stems from an ignorance of Indian law. The group has always made the necessary regulatory disclosures, it added.
REFUNDS
Adani Group was working with its bankers to refund the proceeds received by in the secondary share sale of Adani Enterprises. Anchor investors who had supported the issue included Maybank Securities and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
The company aims to protect the interests of its investing community by returning the proceeds, it said.
Adani Group had on Tuesday mustered enough support from investors for the share sale to proceed, in what some saw as a stamp of investor confidence amid the storm.
But after a brief respite, the selloff in Adani Group stocks and bonds resumed on Wednesday, with shares in Adani Enterprises plunging 28% and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSE.NS) dropping 19%, the worst day on record for both.
The fundraising was critical for Adani, not just because it would have helped cut his group’s debt, but also because it was being seen by some as a gauge of confidence as he faced the biggest business and reputational challenge of his career.
Wednesday’s stock losses saw Adani slip to 15th on the Forbes rich list with an estimated net worth of $75.1 billion, below rival Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries (RELI.NS) who ranks ninth with a net worth of $83.7 billion.
The share sale had succeeded on Tuesday even when the Adani Enterprises stock price in Mumbai markets traded below the offer price of the share sale.
“I do not know how the markets will behave in short term. But this is a measure to enhance (Adani’s) reputation since the investors were staring at a 30% loss even before the shares were alloted,” said Rajesh Baheti, chief executive, Crossseas Capital Services, an algo trading firm.
Reporting by Aditya Kalra and Jahnavi Nidumolu in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva, Kirsten Donovan and Alexander Smith
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Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai sentenced to 69 months in prison
Hong Kong
CNN
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A Hong Kong court on Saturday sentenced jailed media mogul Jimmy Lai to five years and nine months in prison for fraud, in the latest legal challenge against the pro-democracy tycoon.
Lai was found to have breached the terms of lease for the headquarters of his now defunct Apple Daily newspaper after concealing the operation of a consultancy that provided corporate secretarial services to private firms Lai controlled.
Along with the jail sentence, Lai was also fined 2 million Hong Kong dollars ($257,000) and disqualified as a company director for eight years.
Wong Wai Keung, the director of administration of Apple Daily’s parent company Next Digital and a co-defendant, was sentenced to 21 months in jail.
In October, Lai and Wong were both convicted of fraud by the same court. Both pleaded not guilty.
Lai, who has been remanded in custody for almost two years, is also facing a trial under Hong Kong’s sweeping national security law.
Since the security law was imposed by Beijing in 2020, in response to massive anti-government protests, authorities have cracked down on dissent.
Activists, protesters and journalists have been jailed, civil society crippled, and a number of independent news outlets shuttered.
Lai, 74, is one of the most high-profile critics of Beijing charged under the law and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison on charges of colluding with foreign forces. He also faces one charge under a colonial-era sedition law, and was sentenced to 13 months in prison in 2021 for participating in an unauthorized protest.
His pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily was among the newspapers forced to shut down since the implementation of the law, after police raided the newsroom and authorities froze its assets.
The Hong Kong government has repeatedly denied criticism that the law has stifled freedoms, claiming instead it has restored order in the city after the 2019 protests.
Hong Kong, a former British colony that was handed over to Chinese rule in 1997, continues to use the common law system it inherited from Britain.
Its independent judiciary and rule of law have long been deemed key to the city’s success as a global financial center – though many legal experts have expressed misgivings since the introduction of the security law, including two British judges who resigned earlier this year, saying the city had “departed from values of political freedom.”
The city’s legal system typically allows overseas judges in the city’s courts, and lawyers from other common law jurisdictions can work on cases where their expertise is needed.
However, cases under the national security law are handled by a dedicated branch of the Hong Kong police and designated national security judges, raising concern about Beijing’s potential influence on proceedings.
Lai has also been at the center of this debate. In November, Hong Kong’s highest court upheld a verdict to allow a British barrister to represent the tycoon in his national security case. The city’s Chief Executive John Lee has since said he will ask Beijing to determine whether foreign lawyers can work on national security cases.
Thai tycoon and transgender rights advocate buys Miss Universe for $20 million
CNN
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A Thai media tycoon and transgender rights advocate has bought the Miss Universe Organization for $20 million, according to her company, which will now host the international beauty pageant.
Anne Jakkaphong Jakrajutatip is the CEO of JKN Global Group PCL, a Thailand-based media distribution company, though she’s perhaps better known for her role in Thai versions of reality shows including “Project Runway.”
She has also been outspoken about her experiences as a transgender woman, and has worked in advocacy for transgender rights in Thailand.
JKN Global Group announced the takeover on Wednesday, saying in a news release it planned to grow the Miss Universe Organization by expanding in Asia – and releasing new merchandise including skin care, cosmetics, lifestyle products, dietary supplements and drinks.
Jakkaphong said the company was “incredibly honored” to make the acquisition.
“We seek not only to continue its legacy of providing a platform to passionate individuals from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and traditions, but also to evolve the brand for the next generation,” she said.
In a joint statement, the CEO and president of the Miss Universe Organization said they were “excited to continue the evolution of the Miss Universe Organization with JKN.”
“Our progressive approach continues to position us at the forefront of our industry,” they said.
The purchase makes Jakkaphong the first woman owner of the Miss Universe Organization, according to the JKN news release.
The Miss Universe beauty contest, one of the world’s most-watched pageants, has been running since 1952.
Like many other major pageants, it has had to reckon with growing public demand for greater diversity, representation and inclusivity over the past decade. It only lifted its ban on transgender contestants in 2012, after a Canadian competitor threatened legal action when told she would be disqualified due to her assigned sex at birth.
And though some critics argue the premise of a beauty pageant is inherently flawed, others say there has been significant progress in recent years.
Beauty pageants for transgender contestants have risen in prominence, most notably Miss International Queen, launched in 2004 and held this year in Thailand. Some countries have launched their own versions; in 2017, India held its first-ever Miss Transqueen India pageant, which aims to celebrate gender fluidity and raise visibility for India’s transgender community.
And in 2019, the winners of five major pageants – Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss America, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA – were all women of color, a remarkable milestone given black women weren’t allowed to compete in Miss America until the 1940s, and the first black contestant didn’t take that stage until 30 years later.
Indian tycoon Gautam Adani replaces Jeff Bezos as world’s second-richest person
Jeff Bezos has dropped to third place in the race for riches.
The Amazon founder is now the world’s third-richest person, after Indian business tycoon Gautam Adani leapfrogged Bezos in the latest Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index.
Adani has amassed an estimated $146.8 billion fortune that only trails Elon Musk’s $263.9 billion, according to Bloomberg News.
It’s the first time a person from Asia has ranked so highly on the Bloomberg’s list, which has long been dominated by white billionaires.
Bezos trails Adani by just $19 million. Shares of e-commerce goliath Amazon are down 26% this year.
Meanwhile, shares of Adani Enterprises Ltd. have surged the past week, and some of his group of companies climbed more than 1,000% since 2020, according to reports.
Adani’s rise to No. 2 coincides with a tech selloff that has chopped more than $45 billion from Bezos’s fortune since January. Bezos — once the world’s richest person — also saw his net worth significantly drop after his 2019 divorce from ex-wife MacKenzie Scott, who received 4% of Amazon.
China sentences tycoon Xiao Jianhua to 13 years, fines his company $8.1 billion
People walk past the building with the listed address of Tomorrow Holdings’ Beijing office, China, February 3, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
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BEIJING, Aug 19 (Reuters) – A Shanghai court on Friday sentenced Chinese-Canadian billionaire Xiao Jianhua, not seen in public since 2017, to 13 years in jail and fined his Tomorrow Holdings conglomerate 55.03 billion yuan ($8.1 billion), a record in China.
Xiao and Tomorrow Holdings were charged with illegally siphoning away public deposits, betraying the use of entrusted property, and the illegal use of funds and bribery, the Shanghai First Intermediate Court said.
It added the punishment was mitigated because both had admitted their crimes and cooperated in recovering illegal gains and in restoring losses.
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China-born Xiao, known to have links to China’s Communist Party elite, was last seen whisked away in a wheelchair from a luxury Hong Kong hotel in the early hours with his head covered, a source close to the tycoon told Reuters at the time.
Xiao and Tomorrow have “severely violated a financial management order” and “hurt state financial security”, the court said, with the tycoon additionally fined 6.5 million yuan for the crimes.
From 2001 to 2021, Xiao and Tomorrow gave shares, real estate, cash and other assets to government officials totalling more than 680 million yuan, to evade financial supervision and seek illegitimate benefits, the court said.
In July 2020, nine of the group’s related institutions were seized by Chinese regulators as part of a crackdown on risks posed by financial conglomerates. read more
Among the nine firms were four insurers – Tianan Property Insurance Co of China, Huaxia Life Insurance Co, Tianan Life Insurance Co and Yi’an P&C Insurance Co – as well as New Times Trust Co and New China Trust Co. The other three were Chengtong Securities, Guosheng Securities and Guosheng Futures.
The court said that from 2004, Xiao and Tomorrow controlled multiple financial institutions and internet financial platforms, including the failed Baoshang Bank, via multiple layers of indirect shareholders and anonymous ownership.
It said Xiao used the illegal gains for the acquisition of financial institutions, securities trading and overseas investment. But it acknowledged his attempts to make amends.
“Xiao Jianhua has taken commendable actions, so he was given a mitigated punishment in accordance with the law,” it said.
Asked about Xiao’s right to consular access as a Canadian citizen at a Friday briefing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Xiao was not entitled to such rights as Chinese law did not recognise dual nationality.
Canada’s foreign ministry said it was aware of media reports about the sentencing, and its officials would monitor the case and press for consular access.
“The lack of transparency in Mr. Xiao’s legal process is very concerning, as is the ongoing lack of consular access, which prevents us from being able to assess his wellbeing,” it said in a statement.
Tomorrow Holdings could not immediately be reached for comment.
($1=6.8056 Chinese yuan renminbi)
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Reporting by Tony Munroe, Ziyi Tang, Ryan Woo, Ellen Zhang, Eduardo Baptista, and Meg Shen; Editing by Stephen Coates and Clarence Fernandez
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
First Ukraine grain ship set to sail; grain tycoon killed in Russia strike
KYIV, Aug 1 (Reuters) – The first ship to set sail from Ukraine with grain exports since the beginning of the Russian invasion is due to leave on Monday under a guaranteed safe passage agreement, Turkey’s defence ministry said, adding that more will follow.
The Sierra Leone-flagged ship Razoni will set off from Odesa port for Lebanon with its cargo of corn, the ministry said.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 has sparked a worldwide food and energy crisis that is shaking the global economy. The United Nations has warned of a global hunger crisis with a “real risk” of multiple famines this year.
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Russia and Ukraine account for nearly a third of global wheat exports. But Western sanctions on Russia and fighting along Ukraine’s eastern seaboard have prevented grain ships safely leaving ports.
The Razoni’s departure was made possible after Moscow, Kyiv, Ankara and the United Nations signed a grain-and-fertiliser export agreement in July. The deal aims to allow safe passage for grain shipments in and out of Chornomorsk, Odesa and the port of Pivdennyi.
“It was agreed for the Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship named Razoni, which is loaded with corn, to depart from the Odesa port at 0830 in the morning (0530 GMT) on Aug. 1 to go to Lebanon,” Turkey’s defence ministry said in a note.
“Deployment of other ships are planned within the scope of the determined corridor and method” as part of the July agreement, it said.
Ukrainian officials have said there were 17 ships docked in Ukraine’s Black Sea ports with almost 600,000 tonnes of cargo. Of them, 16 held Ukrainian grain with a total volume of about 580,000 tonnes.
Russia has denied responsibility for the food crisis, blaming Western sanctions for slowing exports and Ukraine for mining the approaches to its ports.
BOMBARDMENT OF PORTS
On Sunday, Russian missiles pounded Ukraine’s port city Mykolaiv on the Black Sea as President Vladimir Putin signed a new naval doctrine casting the United States as Russia’s main rival and setting maritime ambitions in the Black Sea and Arctic.
Putin did not mention the conflict in Ukraine during a Navy Day speech but said the navy would receive hypersonic Zircon cruise missiles in coming months. The missiles can travel at nine times the speed of sound, outrunning air defences. read more
Navy Day celebrations in the port of Sevastopol were disrupted when five Russian navy staff members were injured by an explosion after a suspected drone flew into the courtyard of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, the Crimean port city’s governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, told Russian media.
Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.
Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said more than 12 missile strikes on Sunday, probably the most powerful on the city in five months of war, hit homes and schools, with two people confirmed killed and three wounded. Missile strikes continued into Sunday evening.
Ukrainian grain tycoon Oleksiy Vadatursky, founder and owner of agriculture company Nibulon, and his wife were killed in their home, Mykolaiv Governor Vitaliy Kim said on Telegram.
Headquartered in Mykolaiv, a strategically important city that borders the mostly Russian-occupied Kherson region, Nibulon specialises in the production and export of wheat, barley and corn, and has its own fleet and shipyard.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described Vadatursky’s death as “a great loss for all of Ukraine”.
Zelenskiy added that the businessman – one of Ukraine’s richest with Forbes estimating his 2021 net worth at $430 million – had been building a modern grain market with a network of terminals and elevators.
“It is these people, these companies, precisely the south of Ukraine, which has guaranteed the world’s food security,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly address. “This was always so. And it will be so once again.”
Zelenskiy said Ukraine may harvest only half its usual amount this year due to disruption to farming from the biggest conflict in Europe since World War Two. Farmers have reported trying to harvest in between Russian shelling of their fields.
EASTERN DANGER
After failing to quickly capture the capital, Kyiv, early in the war, Russia has turned its focus towards Ukraine’s east and south.
Zelenskiy said Russia had been transferring some forces from the eastern Donbas region to the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
“As briefed by the Ukrainian authorities last week, Russia is likely reallocating a significant number of its forces from the northern Donbas sector to southern Ukraine,” the British Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence update.
It said Russia was probably adjusting the operational design of its Donbas offensive and had likely identified its Zaporizhzhia front as vulnerable and in need of reinforcement.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and Ukraine says Russia is seeking to do the same with the Donbas region and link it to Crimea. Russian-backed separatist controlled parts of the region before the invasion.
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Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by Robert Birsel
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Tycoon who disappeared from Hong Kong hotel in 2017 stands trial in China | China
China has formally put Canadian-Chinese tycoon Xiao Jianhua on trial, more than five years after his alleged abduction in Hong Kong, which rattled the city and sparked fears about residents being forcibly disappeared.
The Canadian embassy in Beijing confirmed on Monday that Xiao’s trial had begun this week. “Canadian consular officials are monitoring this case closely, providing consular services to his family and continue to press for consular access,” it said in a statement, without providing the location of the trial and charges against him.
An earlier report by The Wall Street Journal suggested Xiao was likely to be charged with illegally collecting public deposits, which can carry a prison sentence of five years or more, depending on severity. Since his disappearance, Xiao was first held in the eastern Jiangsu province, and most recently in Shanghai.
Until 2017, Xiao, 50, was one of mainland China’s richest businessmen with high-level connections in the ruling Communist party. A student leader in 1989 at the prestigious Peking University, Xiao sided with the government during the student protests and later found wealth during the country’s economic boom.
Xiao became rich by selling personal computers after he graduated. By 2016, according to the research group Hurun Report, he was worth $6bn (£4.94bn), with investments in banks and insurance through a myriad of complex structures. Chinese news reports suggested Xiao had, over the years, worked on behalf of a number of Chinese elite families.
A reclusive but well-respected figure within the country’s investor circles, Xiao’s fortune were turned upside down in January 2017, when he was whisked out of Hong Kong’s Four Seasons Hotel in a wheelchair allegedly by plainclothes Chinese security agents, who at the time were not permitted to operate in Hong Kong.
He was then taken across the border into China, possibly by boat to avoid immigration checks, according to a report in the New York Times.
Hong Kong police said at the time that he had crossed the border into mainland China. His company Tomorrow Group also said he was on the mainland. Still, the episode rocked Hong Kong at a time of increased influence from Beijing. Two years earlier, five Hong Kong booksellers disappeared from various locations in Asia and then resurfaced in mainland China.
Authorities in China have been silent about Xiao’s case, which was reportedly linked to an anti-corruption drive championed by China’s president, Xi Jinping.
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In a 2014 statement in response to a New York Times profile, Xiao’s spokesperson said he did not profit through his political connections, but rather by following Warren Buffett’s value investing strategy.
“After studying Mr Warren Buffett’s business philosophy, Mr Xiao thought that engaging in business might be more suitable for his character,” Yu Lan, a spokesperson for Tomorrow Group, said. “From then on, Mr Xiao completely kept himself away from politics, and focused on business and investment.”
Immediately after reports of Xiao’s disappearance emerged in 2017, investors began to unload shares linked to Xiao’s companies. In the summer of 2020, Chinese regulators moved to seize assets worth billions of dollars linked to Tomorrow Group, which Xiao had controlled for over two decades.
A year later, state-owned investment firm, China Chengtong Holdings Group Ltd, said it would acquire a majority stake in a securities firm linked to Tomorrow Group.
In Hong Kong, Xiao’s alleged abduction in 2017 added to increasing suspicion of Beijing’s influence in a territory that was guaranteed to be governed by “one country, two systems”. These fears were at the heart of huge protests that shook Hong Kong two years later. Hong Kong residents worried that a proposed bill would allow extraditions to mainland China’s opaque judicial system.
In response to the protests, Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020. That law allowed its security agencies to operate in the city and toppled the legal firewall between mainland and Hong Kong courts.
To Xiao’s family, this week’s trail may put an end to a long wait. “After five years of quietly waiting, our family is still, based on my brother’s strict instructions, putting faith in the Chinese government and Chinese law,” Xiao’s elder brother Xinhua told the Wall Street Journal last month. “It’s very complicated and full of drama,” he said.
Additional reporting by AFP
U.S. accuses casino tycoon Wynn of acting as Chinese agent
WASHINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday sued Steve Wynn, the former CEO of Wynn Resorts (WYNN.O), to compel him to register as an agent of China and accused him of lobbying then-President Donald Trump at Beijing’s behest in 2017.
Wynn’s lawyers denied the allegations, saying he had never acted as an agent of the Chinese government and “had no obligation to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act” (FARA).
From at least June through August 2017, Wynn contacted Trump and members of his administration to convey a Chinese request that Trump cancel the visa of a Chinese businessperson who had sought asylum in the United States, the department said.
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The department’s civil suit alleges it had advised Wynn in 2018, 2021 and April 2022 to register as an agent of China under FARA but he declined to do so. Wynn stepped down as Wynn Resorts CEO in early 2018.
“Where a foreign government uses an American as its agent to influence policy decisions in the United States, FARA gives the American people a right to know,” said Matthew G. Olsen, assistant attorney general for the department’s national security division.
Steve Wynn, Chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts, speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., May 3, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake
The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It seeks a declaratory judgment that Wynn has an obligation to register under FARA.
Wynn’s lawyers, Reid Weingarten and Brian Heberlig, said they disagreed with the department’s legal interpretation of FARA and looked forward to proving their case in court.
In a statement, the Justice Department alleged that Wynn acted at Beijing’s request “out of a desire to protect his business interests in Macau,” where Wynn Resorts operates a luxury hotel and casino.
Wynn conveyed the requests to cancel the businessperson’s visa to the Trump administration on behalf of Sun Lijun, a former vice minister in China’s Ministry of Public Security, the statement said.
It did not name the Chinese businessperson in question, but said the individual left China in 2014 and was later charged with corruption by Beijing.
Wynn conveyed Beijing’s request to Trump over dinner and by phone, and had multiple discussions with senior White House and National Security Council officials about organizing a meeting with Sun and other Chinese officials, the department said.
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Reporting by Rami Ayyub; Editing by Tim Ahmann and Howard Goller
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