China’s elusive bottled water king Zhong Shanshan becomes Asia’s richest person

The rise in Zhong Shanshan’s fortune mostly happened in 2020

Chinese billionaire Zhong Shanshan has become Asia’s richest person (Nongfu Spring)

China’s elusive billionaire Zhong Shanshan, whose fortune surged after two of his companies went public in 2020, has now become Asia’s richest person, pushing ahead of several others, including India’s wealthiest person, Mukesh Ambani.

The 66-year-old businessman from Hangzhou in Zhejiang province has had a long career working as a construction worker and a newspaper reporter before going into the business of bottled water, but his wealth witnessed a huge rise mainly in 2020.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world's richest people, Mr Zhong’s worth increased by $70.9b this year to $77.8b, making him the richest in Asia and 11th richest in the world.  

The Chinese billionaire, who is popularly known as the “lone wolf,” was not widely known outside China until 2020. He is also not involved in politics unlike many of his peers and has no connections to other rich families as well.

The increase in Mr Zhong’s wealth came after a strong showing of two of his companies - Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co and Nongfu Spring Co -  on the stock exchange.

In April, while the world was battling coronavirus and governments imposing lockdowns to control the spread, the Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co, which was founded in 1991, went public. It had a solid debut on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and since then its shares have performed well.  

The company is also developing a nasal spray vaccine for Covid-19. The pharma company is part of the Yang Sheng Tang group that Zhong Shanshan founded in March 1993.

A few months later, in September, his company Nongfu Spring Co, founded in September 1996, had a strong debut on Hong Kong stock exchange.

The period of Mr Zhong’s rise in 2020 has also witnessed a dip in fortunes of businessman leading China’s technology firms.  

Mr Ambani, who heads the Reliance conglomerate, has had an interesting year as well. He was crowned Asia’s richest in April and, in August, was ranked as the world’s fourth-richest person.