China's richest man, Zong Qinghou, planned an initial public offering for his mall business. The IPO has no schedule yet, said Zong in a Beijing press conference.
"We will need to make profit on our retail business for three consecutive years if we want to sell shares and we will need to see whether there is still demand for our IPO by that time," said Zong at an interview.
The proceeds of the IPO will used to put up more malls in cities across China. According to a statement from Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co. (HWGZ), the food and beverage conglomerate planned to open 100 malls in China. The conglomerate aimed to do so in the next 3 to 5 years.
Zong's worth was estimated to be US$11.3 billion. The 67-year-old billionaire, together with his family, owned more than 80% of the HWGZ. HWGZ planned to initially invest CNY1.7 billion (US$277 million) in the mall business. The conglomerate will then spend CNY10 billion in future.
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