Guangzhou Evergrande's Chinese billionaire owner Xu Jiayin tipped as Villa del Mare, Point Piper buyer
The Chinese billionaire buyer of the Point Piper home of recruitment queen Julia Ross, has seemingly emerged as the Evergrande chairman Xu Jiayin.
The confirmed identity of the $39 million trophy home occupant might take time to become clearer, as the Villa del Mare purchase is through a local company called Golden Fast Foods Pty Ltd, but Property Observer has followed the recently available, apparent official paper trail.
Golden Fast Foods is directed by two Chinese directors Han Xiaoran and Huang Xiangui, both from Guangzhou.
Huang Xiangui is also an executive director at Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd, whose billionaire owner Xu Jiayin, (許家印 also known as Hui Ka Yan) is estimated by Forbes to be worth about $7 billion.
Property Observer gleans from sky tracking websites that Xu Jaiyin, aged 56, was in Australia around the time of the early October sale, having arrived with a team of 25 in his private Airbus A319.
The pinpointed billionaire was contemplating buying Australian tourist hotels and, without any confirmation, seemingly a Sydney Harbour trophy home bolt hole too. Xu Jiayin was born in Taikang, Henan province in 1958. He is married with two children. Xu Jiayin’s spouse is Ms Ding Yumei (丁玉梅 also known as Mrs Hui).
After four days in Sydney, Airbus A319-133X(CJ) was then onto the Queensland Gold Coast where the billionaire stayed at Palazzo Versace and met with international property agent Roland Evans of Canford Property Group, who recently brokered the Gold Coast Jewel development investment deal with the rival Dalian Wanda Group.
As of the end of 30 June, 2013, Evergrande had 262 large projects in 140 main cities within China.
As at 30 June 2014, the group held land reserves of 150 million square metres covering 147 different cities in the PRC, 303 projects in total and recorded an accumulated average cost of approximately RMB986 per square metre.
Evergrande Group is an integrated corporation specialized in residential building, cultural tourism, FMCG, agriculture, dairy, livestock farming and sport industry with 460 billion yuan worth of total assets and 80 thousand employees. In November 2009, the company listed its shares on the main board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited.
Evergrande Group is expected to be one of the global top 500 enterprises by 2015. His property company, originally known as Guangzhou Hengda Real Estate Group (and later renamed Evergrande Real Estate Group), was established in 1996 in Guangdong Province and according to the company's 2009 prospectus filing it was initially managing just one construction site in Guangzhou during its first two years of operations.
The owner of the popular soccer team Guangzhou Evergrande, Xu Jiayin, ranks 15th on the Forbes China rich list and tops the latest annual list of China's top philanthropists. The company has been awarded the “Golden Cup of Cotton Tree Cup for Helping the Poor and Needy in Guangdong.” The self-made entrepreneur is a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, also known as the People's PCC, a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China.
Guangzhou Evergrande recently clinched their fourth consecutive Chinese national title, led by retiring Italian World Cup winning manager Marcello Lippi. The club won the 2013 Asian Champions League, though their bid to win back-to-back titles was stalled by eventual winners Western Sydney Wanderers at the quarter-final stage.
The Golden Fast Foods company, which was established by Lindfield accountant Stanley Brogan, is a subsidiary of Egality Investment (Australia) Pty Ltd, which is a subsidiary of the Hong Kong based company Jiaying Holding Limited.
Jiaying Holding gives Suite 1501, One Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Hong Kong as its Hong Kong registered office, which is the same as Evergrande.
Villa del Mare, the much offered hillside Point Piper home famous for its remote-controlled billiard table that sank into the floor, was last traded 10 years ago for $21.5 million when bought from Nati Stoliar.
Villa del Mare was being marketed with Bill Malouf of LJ Hooker in conjunction with Ken Jacobs of Christies International who were confident they could set a record 2014 price.
It was relisted in August with continued $40 million hopes, then snappily sold in early October. It was redundant for the now London-based eponymous founder of Julia Ross Recruitment. Ross did not return to the house having negotiated the one month sale terms from her London home, with the $39 million transfer documents signed off in the UK. Ross grew up the youngest in a large working-class family in northern England.
Born in Cheshire in the north west of England, Julia was the youngest of eight children, aged eight years younger than the second youngest and twenty five years behind the oldest sibling.
The highest sale this year had been the $37 million sale of Ron Medich's mansion to SummitCare Australia aged-care boss Peter Wohl, just across the road on the harbourfront. That property had likewise been listed in 2011, but with overly ambitious $55 million expectations.
Last month the harbourfront 110 Wolseley Road, Point Piper hit the market with hopes of securing the 2014 house price record.
Listing agent Bart Doff from Laing+Simmons Double Bay advised the property was likely to sell for $37 million plus, but now needs to better $39 million to take the title of the highest sale of the year.