Xu Rongmao

Infobox_Celebrity
name = XU Rongmao
许荣茂
許榮茂
caption =
birth_date = 1950
birth_place = flagicon|PRC Shishi, Fujian, PRC
occupation = Founder & Chairman
Shimao Property
alma_mater =
salary =
networth = profitUS$7.03 billion (2007) [ [http://money.163.com/special/00252E12/forbes2007_all.html 福布斯2007年中国富豪榜_网易财经 ] ]

Xu Rongmao, JP (Traditional Chinese: 許榮茂; Simplified Chinese: 许荣茂) (born in Shishi, Fujian, China in 1950), Hui Wing Mau in Cantonese translation, is the Chinese entrepreneur and billionaire, and the founder and the chairman of Shimao Property, one of the largest property developer in Shanghai.

Biography

Xu grew up in Fujian Province, the oldest of the eight children. After graduating from high school during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, he was sent to the countryside to work as a barefoot doctor. In the 1970s, he emigrated to Hong Kong and worked as a textile worker.

In 1988, he claimed to invest RMB$1.2 million in a knitting factory in his hometown, but he intended to build a hotel instead, although investments in private hotels were forbidden at that time. However, as soon as the construction was completed, the government policy was changed to allow private owners to have their hotels. Then Xu became the owner of the first private three-star hotel in China. He then started to invest into developing residential complexes and resorts in Fujian.

In the 1990s, he pushed his real estate business into Beijing and Shanghai just before housing prices rose up.

In the 2000s, he expanded his business by acquiring listed companies and changing their names. They are Shimao Holdings (listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange) and Shimao International (previously listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange), while the latter was privatized by him in 2007. [ [http://notice.singtao.com/ADMA/00813/epdf/813.pdf MAJOR AND CONECTED TRANSACTION] ] His third company, Shimao Property, was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2006.

[ [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/29/business/worldbusiness/29titans.html?pagewanted=all Billionaire Builder of China] ]

On the 14 September 2008 it was rumoured he was interested in buying Newcastle United from under fire owner Mike Ashley. [ [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1055615/EXCLUSIVE-Newcastle-sale--fans-protest-Ashley-slump-defeat.html Newcastle up for sale] ]

Link

* [http://www.shimaogroup.com/ Shimao Group]
* [http://www.shimaoproperty.com/en/ Shimao Property]

Reference