Two new billionaires emerge with Shenzhen stock rally

A rally in shares on China’s Shenzhen Stock Exchange has made Xiao Fen and Ruan Hongxian billionaires as their companies’ stocks climbed.
Xiao, chairman of Shenzhen Fenda Technology Co., a consumer electronics company that invested in a maker of Google Glass-like products, has a net worth exceeding USD1 billion as the stock surged to a record. Ruan, who owns China’s third-biggest publicly traded drug-store chain, also has a fortune of more than $1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The Shenzhen Stock Exchange Composite Index, which tracks shares on the smaller of China’s two stock exchanges, has jumped 8.7 percent this year, making it the best performer in Asia after Indian equity markets. Xiao’s Fenda Technology has surged 49 percent since the start of the year, while Ruan’s Yunnan Hongxiang Yixintang Pharmaceutical Co. added 19 percent.
“Investor confidence in the Chinese market has improved,” said Wang Weijun, a strategist at Zheshang Securities Co. in Shanghai. “That has led to improved liquidity in the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.”
The Shenzhen index dropped 0.7 percent at the close, reversing a gain of 0.3 percent. Ruan’s stock jumped to an 11- week high, while Xiao’s company extended gains to a record.
Xiao, 52, controls more than half of Fenda Technology along with his wife and daughter, according to exchange filings.
“Being on a rich list only reflects paper wealth,” Zhou Guiqing, a securities representative at Fenda Technologies, said on behalf of the billionaire, describing him as “thrifty.” “His mission is to develop the business well.” Sterling Wong and Jill Mao, Bloomberg