Landing International Development shares crashed 42% after the casino operator confirmed its chairman and majority stakeholder Yang Zhihui has been “unreachable” since Aug. 23.
Yang is the focus of investigators looking into ties with China Huarong Asset Management company — a state-owned bad-debt manager whose former chairman, Lai Xiaomin, is under fire for alleged corruption.
Coincidence?? Many think not.
China’s president takes the ‘c-word’ very seriously
According to Bloomberg, since taking office in 2013, Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign has “nabbed” more than 1.5m Communist Party members.
And they’ve since moved into the corporate world, cleaning house in boardrooms in an effort to slow the “debt fueled” expansion of China’s biggest businesses.
And it ain’t the first time a big chief has gone missing
The South China Morning Post reported in early 2017 that Financier Xiao Jianhua, leader of the Tomorrow Holding Co. empire, was abducted by Chinese authorities.
Mainland sources subsequently reported he was aiding investigations into “bribery” and “stock market manipulation,” though the Chinese government never gave a formal announcement on the matter.
This Landing International news comes just 2 weeks after the company’s $1.5B Philippine casino project was thrown under review and labeled “flawed” by the Philippine president.
The firm now has a market value of $1.4B, down from $1.6B in April. Meanwhile, the missing Yang still owns a 50.5% stake in the company.