Miniso's bid to buy stake in supermarket leads to fall in founder's wealth

Until recently, China's budget retail billionaire Ye Guofu had been on a roll, building his fortune as his stores proved a hit in the nation's slowing economy.

- 

Then his Miniso Group Holding announced a surprise bid to acquire a majority stake in struggling mega supermarket Yonghui Superstores for 6.27 billion yuan (S$1.15 billion).

Mr Ye's fortune tumbled US$593 million (S$761.6 million), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, after the move spooked investors and sent its New York-listed stock down a record 17 per cent on Sept 23, and a further 2.3 per cent on Sept 24.

That came even as markets in China and Hong Kong soared on massive stimulus announced by Chinese officials.

“The Chinese economy and the Chinese consumer aren't exactly on the front foot,” said Mr Neil Saunders, an analyst at GlobalData. “So I think there are just a lot of doubts swirling about exactly how they're going to generate a return over this.”