Huang Guangyu ranks No.1 on the 2007 Hurun Cashout Rich List, according to hexun.com. A cash out refers to cash received in exchange for financial assets. Huang has cashed out investments totaling 9.3 billion yuan (US$1.25 billion) during recent years.

 

The 38 year-old who founded Gome Electrical Appliances Holdings and owns unlisted real estate focused Pengrun Investment Group, ranked the fourth on the 2007 Hurun Rich List, with 45 billion yuan in wealth.

 

However, he has made nearly 10 billion yuan selling privately owned outlets to listed companies during recent years. He surpassed Yanhuiyan, Xu Rongmao, and Zhang Yin Family and topped Chinese billionaires in cash out.

 

Power tycoon Rong Zhijian, owner of CITIC Pacific in Hong Kong, came in second in terms of cash out with five billion yuan, from large dividend payments of his firm.

 

Yang Huiyan, the richest woman in China, came in eighth place on the Hurun Cashout Rich List. Her cash out came mainly from dividends of her Country Garden holdings before going public.

 

Overall 17 billionaires were on the 2007 Hurun Cashout Rich List. Of the total, seven came from the IT industry, four from the retail industry, three from the real estate market, and another three were from the chemical, logistics, and composite industries.

 

How will these billionaires use the cash? Hu Run, creator of the annual Hurun Rich List from 1999, noted they could help small and medium enterprises grow up by offering their experience and capital, an idea that offers the best returns to our community.

 

In the first half this year, Huang Guangyu, together with Bear Stearns, one of the leading investment banks on Wall Street, established a US$500 million retail industry investment fund.

 

After that, via private placement, the second fund totaling US$800 million, which will go to the realty market in Chinese big cities, came between Huang and Pacific Star Group from Singapore.

 

Rong Zhijian spent HK$6.26 billion and purchased 1.13 percent of Anglo American PLC, the global third largest mining firm. Last month, Rong also decided to sponsor 40 million yuan to upgrade the medical equipment of the People's Hospital in his hometown Wuxi, south of Jiangsu Province, East China.

 

Yang Guoqiang, chairman of Country Garden Group, also established scholarship funds in both Peking University and Tsinghua University, with 30 million yuan.

 

The cash out totals calculated only included those from sales of private companies or listed companies.

 

The annual Hurun Rich List has nine years of history, and the Hurun series lists such as the China Philanthropy List, Hurun Power List, Best Performing Listed Companies and Most Valuable Chinese Brands, were created respectively. Hurun's report has become the China's top business portal.

 

(Chinadaily.com.cn November 1, 2007)