【Epoch Times News】After 9 months of defaulting on loans from Evergrande Group in China, Ding Yumei, the “former wife” of Evergrande founder Xu Jiayin, has spent 49.8 million pounds to purchase 33 properties in London, United Kingdom.
Following Evergrande’s debt crisis, reports emerged in 2023 of Xu Jiayin divorcing his wife, Ding Yumei. Speculations arose that the divorce might be a “technical divorce” for Xu Jiayin to transfer assets and allow Ding Yumei to receive huge dividends from Evergrande.
According to a report by Bloomberg on June 20, a court document from January this year revealed that Ding Yumei owns 33 properties in a luxury residential project called Thames City in London, but did not specify the purchase date.
The report cited data from the UK Land Registry, indicating that these properties valued at 49.8 million pounds were acquired in September 2022, nearly a year after Chinese authorities demanded Xu Jiayin to use his personal assets to repay debts.
Ding Yumei holds these properties through five companies registered in the British Virgin Islands.
As per court documents, Ding Yumei has appointed Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) as the leasing and management agent. The 68-year-old Ding Yumei resides in a mansion worth 5.4 million pounds with her two children and two grandchildren.
The report mentions that Evergrande no longer listed Ding Yumei as Xu Jiayin’s spouse in documents submitted in August 2023, and it is currently unknown when the divorce took place.
The aforementioned UK properties are just a fraction of Ding Yumei’s assets totaling over 350 million dollars worldwide, highlighting the difficulty that liquidators face in fully grasping the assets held by Xu Jiayin and his close associates, as well as the obstacles in gaining control of assets in different jurisdictions.
Evergrande Group was listed in Hong Kong in 2009, and Xu Jiayin was once China’s richest man, but encountered liquidity issues starting in 2021.
In January 2024, the Hong Kong High Court ordered the liquidation of Evergrande and appointed Edward Simon Middleton and Wing Sze Tiffany Wong as the liquidators. The liquidators are seeking around 46.8 billion Hong Kong dollars in dividends and compensation from Xu Jiayin, Ding Yumei, and others.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese authorities are investigating whether Xu Jiayin attempted to transfer assets overseas during the company’s financial difficulties.
On March 18 this year, the Hong Kong High Court rejected two applications from Ding Yumei, including a request for a closed-door hearing and amending the asset freeze order. The judge criticized Ding Yumei for trying to confuse and delay litigation.
Subsequently, the Hong Kong High Court issued a global asset freeze order, prohibiting them from dealing with global assets valued at around 60 billion Hong Kong dollars, including Ding Yumei’s bank deposits and luxury apartments in London.
In February this year, Ding Yumei filed two applications with the Hong Kong High Court, seeking amendments to the asset freeze order to exempt some assets and requesting a closed-door hearing, citing that a public trial could affect her life and reputation.
In legal documents disclosed by the Hong Kong High Court, two pieces of information are noteworthy.
Firstly, among the various reasons Ding Yumei cited for requesting a closed-door hearing, one highlighted that she is currently living with her two underage children and two underage grandchildren. Ding Yumei believes that judicial openness does not require the public disclosure of her private life and asset details, as a public hearing could damage her reputation and affect the lives of her two underage children and grandchildren.
According to disclosed legal documents, the parents of Ding Yumei’s two underage children and two underage grandchildren were not revealed.
Based on publicly available information, Xu Jiayin and Ding Yumei married in 1983 and have two sons, Xu Zhijian and Xu Tenghe, both of whom are adults.
The Hong Kong court ultimately rejected Ding Yumei’s application, only exempting dollar assets in one of her accounts, while other requests did not receive support.