Chinese mining boss who threw a multimillion-dollar wedding for his daughter last year is now struggling under a pile of debts that threaten to trigger a major default in the country’s shadow banking industry.
Until a few weeks ago Xing Libin was known as the wealthiest man in Liulin, a county in northern China that struck it rich over the past decade thanks to bulging coal deposits. Looking more like a tousled professor than a slick tycoon, Mr Xing acquired mining rights for what local media said was “the price of a cabbage” and built his unlisted company, Liansheng Resources Group, into a big player in the Chinese coal industry.
Mr Xing put his success on display in March 2012 at a Rmb70m ($11m) party to jointly celebrate his daughter’s wedding and his company’s 10th anniversary. He rented three aircraft to fly family and friends to the resort island of Hainan, brought in pop stars for a gala concert and assembled a fleet of six Ferraris for the wedding procession.