Chinese businessman Huang Xiangmo’s big spending was strategy to cement himself in Australia
Banned Chinese businessman Huang Xiangmo’s latest high profile $2 billion investment in Circular Quay and the Gold Coast are part of a big-spending, long-term strategy to establish himself as a fixture in Australia. Editor-at-Large Matthew Benns looks at the Yuhu empire’s giant footprint in Australia.
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Banned Chinese businessman Huang Xiangmo’s latest high profile $2 billion investment in Circular Quay and the Gold Coast are part of a big-spending, long-term strategy to establish himself as a fixture in Australia.
But with the fallout from his political donations and Communist party ties increased the billionaire had already taken steps to hand over the reins of his giant Yuhu empire to son Jimmy, 23, who is already an Australian citizen.
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As news broke yesterday that the elder Mr Huang’s citizenship application had been stopped by the Home Affairs office, the Yuhu Group issued a statement from its North Sydney headquarters stating that he “no longer holds any position in the company” and “is not involved in day-to-day operations”.
In his place as chairman is his son, who is understood to still live at the $12.8 million mansion his father bought at Beauty Point in Mosman because it had good feng shui.
Just around the corner in a $4.8 million mansion is Mr Huang’s daughter Carina and her husband Evan (Xiaozhi) Luo, 30, who is also involved in the $2 billion investments at Circular Quay and The Gold Coast. Bill Shorten was a guest at their 2016 wedding.
On the company website Jimmy Huang said the development at One Circular Quay and the Jewel on the Gold Coast “will represent $2.8 billion of investment” and create 2500 jobs.
They join a raft of investments, including a 21-storey residential tower called The Miller in North Sydney, the possible development of Eastwood Plaza, which it has entered into a Voluntary Planning Agreement with Ryde Council, and the $380 million purchase of the Bakehouse Quarter in the inner west.
Peter Jennings, executive director of the Australia Strategic Policy Institute, said from the moment Mr Huang arrived in Sydney in 2011 he had spent big on political and charitable donations, business investments and property to forge an impression of affluence, influence and permanence.
He pumped $1.8 million into former Premier Bob Carr’s Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney, which made him an adjunct professor.
Yesterday a UTS spokesman said the university had “no current links to Mr Huang Xiangmo or to his company, Yuhu Group”.
Mr Jennings said close inspection by the UTS think tank would have shown “Mr Huang was one of those mystery billionaires who appeared out of nowhere in China”.
In Sydney Mr Huang went about cementing support in the community in the same way he did with political parties — by splashing the cash.
Since 2012 his company has given $6.5 million to charities, including the Bear Cottage children’s hospice in Manly and the Children’s Medical Research Institute.
The Yuhu Group is also aiming to win over sports fans by becoming a major backer of the Sydney Swans.
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