Capital Tycoon Worth Billions Driven to the Edge of a Cliff

Lifeline or last rite: sell the bank stake

Zhongjing Group (中静集团) chairman Gao Yang (高央) has publicly acknowledged what he calls the toughest period since founding the group. It has been reported that Zhongjing is preparing to liquidate its core holding in Huishang Bank (徽商银行) to plug a shortfall of around RMB 8 billion. Reportedly potential buyers include asset management companies, insurance firms and state-linked investors — but no deal has been signed yet.

A once-stable asset now the only refuge

Zhongjing Xinhua (中静新华), the listed core platform that concentrated the Huishang stake, shows how dire the situation is: as of June 30, 2024 it held just RMB 54.2 million in cash while carrying roughly RMB 8 billion in total liabilities through the group, with more than RMB 6 billion already overdue. Profitability collapsed from 2022 as credit impairment charges exploded and investment returns — historically dominated by Huishang dividends — dried up amid disputes over profit distribution. Gao says he repeatedly tried to influence bank governance but was blocked by other large shareholders.

Six years of failed exits and a messy legal trail

This is far from a new plan. Zhongjing’s attempt to offload the Huishang stake has been ongoing for six years, spawning aborted deals and courtroom fights. A 2019 framework sale to Shanshan Group (杉杉集团) ended in litigation; in January 2023 a Shanghai financial court ordered complex reversions in that dispute. Other potential buyers, from Dongjian International (东建国际) to Amer International (正威集团), either pulled back or ran into their own financing problems. Judicial freezes on assets and restricted H‑share cash flows mean the stake is effectively “half‑paralyzed,” complicating any transfer.

Troubling emblem of a wider unwinding

Zhongjing’s predicament — a conglomerate built on high leverage, cross‑holdings and finance‑industrial synergies — is a textbook case of the risks Chinese regulators have targeted in recent deleveraging campaigns. Can selling the bank stake save Gao’s empire, or will protracted disputes and valuation discounts drain any rescue value? For Western observers, the episode underscores how regulatory tightening and liquidity stress can rapidly upend even long‑standing private capital networks in China.