Ex-wife of Evergrande founder amasses US$285 million in property
IN THE heart of downtown Vancouver, just minutes from the financial district and art galleries, sits the One Wall Centre – an elliptical, blue glass complex featuring a Sheraton Hotel and luxury apartments.
A condominium on the 47th floor, offering stunning views of the Pacific coast mountains and Vancouver Harbour through floor to ceiling windows, is owned by the ex-wife and son of Hui Ka Yan, the billionaire founder and chairman of the failed developer China Evergrande Group.
The Vancouver condominium is one of many global properties worth as much as US$285 million held by Ding Yu Mei, according to court documents and property searches done by Bloomberg News. The homes, from Canada to the UK, include one of the most expensive mansions in London.
As liquidators in Hong Kong scour the globe for assets tied to the world’s most indebted developer, Ding’s properties are at risk of being seized or sold to repay creditors. Courts in Hong Kong and London granted worldwide asset freeze injunctions against Ding in July, part of wider efforts to recover US$6 billion from her, Hui, and former Evergrande executives.
“It could set the foundation for other future actions, which the liquidators may bring to recoup assets for the benefit of creditors,” said Daniel Margulies, a partner at the Dechert LLP law firm in Hong Kong who specialises in cross-border restructuring and insolvency.
Representatives at Lam & Co and Hogan Lovells, Ding’s lawyers in Hong Kong and London respectively, did not respond to requests for comments, nor did officials at Karas So LLP, representing the liquidators.
Ding has been a source of intrigue for creditors and social media onlookers in recent years. An August 2023 filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange listed her as a “third-party independent” instead of “spouse”, suggesting a divorce from Hui after more than three decades of marriage.
Dividend payouts from Evergrande that totalled more than US$7 billion supported the duo’s global shopping sprees and lavish lifestyles, with Hui once owning three mansions overlooking Hong Kong, along with a super yacht.
Hui was taken away by Chinese police last year and subjected to “mandatory measures” on suspicion of illegal crimes, according to a company statement. UK court filings show that Ding now lives in a luxury apartment in London’s Thames City and has about US$4 million in her Barclays bank account. She’s allowed to spend as much as £20,000 (S$34,100) a month, as liquidators seek to recoup about US$360 million in dividends paid to her.
Ding keeps a low profile and has not been seen in public since Evergrande’s crisis began. Little is known about her background. It was not until 2018 that photos of her first surfaced in an article posted on Evergrande’s website about the couple’s trip to Hui’s hometown in Henan province. She met Hui when he was sent to work in a state-owned steel company after college and married him in 1983, according to a Chinese media report.
Ding, who holds a Canadian passport, and her son Steven Xu Zhijian bought the Vancouver condominium in 2004, just as Evergrande was starting to ride the wave of a real estate boom that would eventually make Hui Asia’s second-richest person. Ding benefited too, as Evergrande’s rise boosted the value of her almost 6 per cent stake in the company, based on filings last year.
Ding and Xu are still listed as registered owners of the One Wall Centre property, for which they paid C$1 million (S$954,235), according to documents from the Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia. The two-bedroom unit is currently worth about C$2 million, according to BC Assessment, after prices soared in Canada’s most expensive housing market.
Ding, 67, was listed as a “homemaker” and Xu a student at the time of the purchase, the documents show. Xu holds a Bachelor of Arts (Economics) degree from the University of British Columbia, according to an Evergrande filing.
Ding has likely added to her Vancouver holdings since then. A house worth C$2.15 million was purchased in November 2022 and another bought in February 2023 for C$12 million list Yu Mei Ding as the registered owner, according to land title documents. The transactions were made after Evergrande defaulted on its US dollar bonds, and after Hui was urged by Chinese authorities to tap his personal wealth to help repay debts.
The C$12 million home is in Shaughnessy, home to some of Vancouver’s most expensive real estate. Huawei Technologies chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou lived in the area during her time in Canada. Built-in 2019, the house has eight bedrooms and 10 bathrooms, with about 6,700 square feet (622 square metres) of floor area, featuring a floor-to-ceiling wine cellar and home theatre. The other house in the Southlands area has six bedrooms and four bathrooms, according to marketing materials. A visit to the Vancouver properties in August did not find anyone at home.
The Vancouver assets are just part of Ding’s global property holdings, which include a record-breaking luxury mansion in London bought for £210 million in January 2020.
The buyer of the property first appeared to be Cheung Chung Kiu, a property tycoon and long-time friend of Hui. UK company filings later showed the beneficial owner of the British Virgin Islands company involved in the purchase is Ding.
The mansion is now on the list of assets frozen by the injunction orders, according to court filings in the UK and Hong Kong. It’s been on the market since late 2022, struggling to find a buyer. It almost sold for about £200 million last year, some £25 million below the asking price, before negotiations broke down. It’s now receiving bids at around 40 per cent below asking, sources familiar with the matter have said.
In addition to the properties in Vancouver, Canada is also home to the group’s only hotel investment outside Asia – Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello in Quebec, which bills itself as the world’s largest log cabin.
The group acquired the 94-year-old resort in 2014 for about 190 million yuan (S$35 million), according to company filings. The Evergrande liquidation is raising concerns about its fate, according to a media report in February. A representative for the hotel declined to comment.
“The mayor’s office has not received any notice of any kind regarding the ownership of Château Montebello,” town Mayor Nicole Laflamme said. “It is in full operation.” BLOOMBERG
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