Turns out the former Chinese billionaire whose solar company just imploded was shorting his own stock
(AP) Li Hejun, chairman and CEO of Hanergy Group.
It turns out the man presiding over the implosion of one of China's stock-market darlings was on the right side of the trade.
Li Hejun, chairman of Hanergy Thin Film Solar Group Ltd, added to a short position in his own company's stock days before it collapsed, Bloomberg reports.
"Li bought 26.4 million Hanergy additional shares at an average of HK$7.28 each on May 18, according to two separate filings to Hong Kong Exchange on Friday. He also increased his short position to 7.71% of Hanergy's issued share capital from 5.81% on the same day," the report said.
The fall of Hanergy was the talk of China this week. The $39 billion solar company's shares rose 500% over the past year then were halted suddenly Wednesday before plummeting.
(investing.com, Business Insider Australia)
The only way to describe the evaporation of such wealth is to say it was breathtaking. According to reports, Li lost $15 billion in one hour when shares fell 47%. Shares were suspended with no explanation. Also, notably, Li was absent from a board meeting held earlier that day.
There had been suspicious movement in the stock before this week, and Li has not explained his short position in his own company.
What we do know is:
The FT pointed out that there has tended to be a huge surge in Hanergy's stock occurring almost exclusively in the last 10 minutes of the trading day.
Hanergy sells most of what it produces back to its parent company, Hanergy Holding Group.
China's Caixin online newspaper reports that Hanergy Holding Group used shares in the solar company to take out bank loans that, according to sources close to the company, it has failed to repay.
None of this looks good for Li, especially because it seems as if he saw this coming.
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